Desperate Hours
by aloola
Summary: A bounty hunter caused problems for our team during a routine trade negotiation. Set late season three. Now COMPLETE....
1. Chapter 1

This is set just after Vengeance but before First Strike so there may be spoilers for that episode. As always the characters aren't mine, just trying them for size before returning them to the box!!!

**Desperate Hours**

**Chapter One**

Nagging, burning pain was the only sensation that he could feel, nothing else registered, nothing else mattered. It twisted its needle like tendrils through his brain, clawing its way into every corner of his mind. His hands pulled at the jacket that clung to his skin, the material matted and clogged; sticky with the blood that pumped in a glutinous stream from the hole in his chest. He squeezed his eyes closed and grabbed clumsily at the pocket of his vest, his hand searching for the statutory field dressings stored there, but his fingers wouldn't work properly and he struggled to loosen the flap on the pocket.

A cry of despair ripped from between his teeth as he battled with the stubborn fastener, his blood slicked fingers slipping on the thick material. He could feel the warmth spreading under his jacket and once again he slipped his hand under the sodden material, pressed his right hand down on the wound, feeling the blood streaming between his fingers.

Earlier

Sheppard had been pretty relaxed as he had entered the room for his meeting with Makill. The man apparently had a reputation as a hard negotiator, but he was also known as a fair man with a quiet dry humour, so Sheppard hadn't been expecting a hard time.

The team had been pretty keen to get the negotiations over with a quickly as possible, especially Sheppard; unlike Teyla, thrashing out trade deals definitely wasn't his strongest attribute and certainly wouldn't make it to his list of all time top ten favourite pastimes.

Rodney had whined incessantly about having to meet the eastern region grain master on his own, especially when the meeting had been arranged at Sylers home with his 'family' present. Rodney needed to negotiate trade deals like he needed decaff coffee, but it had been agreed that as he knew more than anyone else about the water purification system that they were trading against he was the best choice, so he had seen little room to argue and had begrudgingly agreed to go.

Teyla on the other hand enjoyed the repartee of trade. She had grown up following her father into trade deals and had subsequently taken on the role as negotiator when her father was lost and she became leader of her people. The delicate art of negotiation came naturally to her and it had been decided that she should take Ronon with her; he needed the trading experience, as his only form of negotiation normally involved his blaster or fists!

So, meetings agreed, the team had headed off in different directions and arranged to liase later over a meal in the local tavern before heading back through the gate.

Sheppard couldn't have known that the man he was meeting would be carrying a weapon, it should have been safe; there shouldn't have been any danger, especially as projectile weapons of any type were banned on the planet and they had been forced to relinquish theirs upon arrival. The office had been darkened when Sheppard had opened the door, and the figure sitting at the desk in the centre of the room had been partially hidden in the shadows.

It hadn't been until he saw the gun being drawn and heard the shot being fired that Sheppard had turned and thrown himself to the side and onto the stone floor of the office. He had landed hard against the floor and felt the air knocked roughly from his lungs.

At first he had thought he had landed against the floor awkwardly as pain had flared in his upper chest, _'Damn it, that's all I need, another busted rib! _

Bringing his knees up, he had crawled quickly across the floor, heading for the narrow doorway that he knew led out into the street; but as he had struggled up onto his feet, he had felt what he thought at the time to be the broken rib stab at him and he hadn't been able to stop a strangled gasp from escaping his lips.

The pain had torn through his chest and it had been all he could do to prevent himself from hitting the ground again as he had stumbled towards the open door. Even as he had exited the door into the cool night air, he had heard the booted footsteps start to follow him, the unidentified man running to catch him as he stumbled down the cobbled street.

When he could no longer hear the pursuing footfalls, Sheppard had stopped briefly and lent against the alleyway wall to catch his breath, but each breath that he had drawn in had burned at his lungs, stinging like acid.

As he had pushed away from the wall, he had failed to notice the red stain that he had left behind on the grey stone, but he had heard once more the sound of footsteps running down the street towards him and he had been spurred to continue on.

The voice that called out in the dark chilled Sheppard as he made his way along the alleyway,

"Where are you Lantean! I only wanted to talk to you, I have a 'friend' who has requested your company". A rough laugh had followed the shouted question and Sheppard had almost paused to throw a taunt back, but his busted rib threatening to slow him down and his overriding need to find the rest of the team had stilled his response; he had felt a desperate need to let them know what had happened at the meeting, so he had ignored the shouted comment and continued towards the relative sanctuary of the town centre.

He had run down the street towards the riverside and the docks, the pungent smell of fetid water hitting his nostrils as the warehouses came into view through the dense fog that covered the water like a funereal shroud.

The fingers of mist had twisted between the buildings like floating spectres, coiling and undulating as the breeze caught them and tossed them around. Sheppard had thrown a rapid glance behind him as he had dipped behind the first of the immense grain warehouses, pausing only to catch his breath again. His lungs had started burning with the effort of keeping ahead of his attacker.

The wooden warehouses were old and decrepit and the walls rotten with age and as Sheppard had leant against the slime covered boards behind him, a rat had appeared at his feet, paused to sniff the air, then scurried off in search of smaller, easier prey.

Sheppard had frozen as a sound broke through the still air, it had been the definite crunch of feet on gravel and he had been forced to hold his breath in anticipation of the arrival of his attacker.

Looking around, Sheppard had noticed a thick wooden post leaning up against the wall beside him. Grasping the post in his right hand, he had picked it up and held it against his shoulder in anticipation of his attackers appearance.

Adrenalin had surged through his veins as he waited, trying to block out the pain cutting through him from his ribs. He had felt his heart pumping inside his chest and the blood roaring in his ears as he had waited, poised.

As the footsteps had grown closer, he had lifted the post above his shoulder, waiting until the figure drew level with his concealed position.

The black boots had appeared first around the corner, but Sheppard had been ready; he had hefted the post like a baseball bat, pushing his whole body weight behind the long swing. The post struck the man in the face, and blood had spewed from the man's broken nose and mouth as he had gone down, the gun falling from his numb fingers.

Sheppard had cried out in pain as the swing pulled at his chest and he had been forced to drop to his knees, crippled by the intensity of the torment.

He had tried to breath, but as he dropped onto his hands, his lungs refused to play nicely and he had found himself drawing in only small stuttering breaths, each one sending cascading fire through his ribcage.

As the pain had intensified, Sheppard had carefully undone the zip on his TAC vest and pushed his right hand under the material of his jacket. He had fully expecting to feel the grate of a broken rib as he had probed the raw area, but as his hand had touched the spot where the pain originated, he had felt the sticky wetness of blood and he had blanched.

The bullet had caught him just under his left arm, penetrating the exposed gap in his vest as he had thrown himself to the ground in the office.

He had felt the ragged edges of the wound under his fingers, and as he had drawn his hand away, the blood had dripped from his fingertips down onto the flagstones at his feet. The pain had bitten hard and he had been forced to lean back against the rotten boards of the grain store hoping that the pain would subside; but his legs had given way and he had found himself sliding down the wall, ending up sitting on the gravel strewn floor, his blood stained hand resting in the dirt at his side and with the unconscious figure of his attacker lying just feet away from him.

Present 

Now, as Sheppard sat in the dirt struggling with the simple task of undoing the pocket on his TAC vest and with an unconscious man that he now realised he didn't recognize lying beside him, he wished more than ever that he hadn't agreed to them all meeting separate grain masters in different locations, but as they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The velcro flap finally came undone on the TAC vest pocket and he fumbled inside, drawing out the field dressings that were stored there. Grunting with effort, he shrugged the heavy TAC vest from his shoulders and let it fall to the ground and as he pulled the zipper down on his long sleeved jacket, it finally exposing the blood soaked black shirt that now clung wetly to the sharp contours of his ribcage.

He drew in the deepest breath that he could manage before pulling the shirt up and over his torso, getting his first real look at the wound in his chest, and he felt the nausea sting in his stomach as he looked at the ragged hole in his ribcage.

The jagged hole was oozing thick streams of dark blood and Sheppard could feel the sweat starting to bead on his forehead as he closed his eyes in shock; he had been prepared for a broken rib, but not this.

He blinked his eyes repetitively to clear away the sweat that was now dripping into them and he could already feel the tremors starting in his hand as he pressed the now open field dressing to the seeping wound. The touch of the dressing on his raw skin almost blacked him out, but he shook his head, trying to stop the grey edges from interrupting his vision. The sparkling spots that appeared as he shook his head dispersed quickly, but his head span and the feeling of dread that had touched him briefly as he had slid down the wall now began to settle more permanently in the pit of his stomach. He needed help, and he needed it soon.

He fastened the dressing in place as best he could, then reached out towards the discarded vest. As he extended his arm out towards the protective garment laying beside him, he felt something suddenly change inside. A gasp burst from his lips and he toppled onto his side as a firebrand of pain lanced through his upper body.

He convulsed on the gravel covered floor, his hands grasping at the damp air, desperate to find relief from the burning agony that now tormented him.

He coughed harshly, wrapping his arms protectively around his chest as he felt the pull of torn flesh inside.

He recognised the raw, but distinctive metallic taste in his mouth and on his lips as his abused lungs rebelled, but as he brought his shaking hand to his mouth, the red stain that coloured the back of his hand still shocked him deeply.

'_Goddamn it, I'm really screwed this time… Damn it to hell!'_

As he lay back on the ground and the pain pulsed through his chest in waves, he suddenly remembered his still present comlink.

Pressing the link, he tried to compose himself enough to speak,

"R-rodney…. 'Oh god, that hurts', ..Rodney. If you c-can hear me, I…" he swallowed hard and tried to continue, "Rodney I r-ran into some t-trouble ..aah, I c-could really do with some h-help.." His head dropped back onto the dirt strewn street and he felt the gravel digging into his face as he looked over at the unconscious man laying a few feet from him. What had happened, why had this man drawn a weapon on him; and where was Makill, the man he should have been meeting?

The only response to his call for help was static hissing intermittently in his ear, so he tried again.

Lifting his hand he once more activated the com, this time trying a different target, "Teyla- Ronon! If you c-can hear m-me, ..uh, I'm in t-trouble. I'm d-down b-by..t-the docks, ..I've b-been hit ..ah!"

His head was spinning. The sound of his own voice was wrong, distant and fuzzy and he felt his vision greying out as he lay looking up into the night sky. Again only static greeted him in response to his call for help.

"S-someone h-help me…."

As the whispered words drifted out of his mouth, his eyes closed briefly and he felt the strength slipping from his body. He knew he couldn't stay here, he needed to get back to the rendezvous that they had arranged, he needed help badly. As his eyes drifted once more to the still figure beside him, his subconscious started to ask questions.

'_Who wants me dead?'…'What have I done?'_

Looking over at the figure, Sheppard came to a decision and pushed himself to his feet. Staggering to the man's side, he dropped onto his knees and using his free left hand, he searched the man's pockets.

It wasn't until he tried the inside pocket of the man's coat that his fingers hit a sheaf of papers which fluttered in the evening breeze as he pulled them from their hiding place.It didn't take much for Sheppard to realise what he was holding as he saw the picture of himself looking back at him; they were contract papers, the sort sent out to killers for hire and bounty hunters amongst others. The one thing that Sheppard found astounding as he studied the pictures was the writing; it was in Wraith script and he couldn't read it!

'_Damn it Rodney, where are you when I need you the most!' _

A movement from the figure beside him caught Sheppard's attention and the realisation that the man beside him was slowly returning to consciousness spurred him to move. The man's head moved slightly from side to side and a soft groan issued from his bloody mouth as his hand drifting haphazardly across the ground.With a supreme effort, Sheppard pushed himself off the ground, catching a cry of pain behind his tightly clenched lips before it made itself heard, not wanting to give away his position if his attacker was not alone.

He had no way of knowing if his attacker had accomplices, so the urgency to move now became even greater.

He felt himself drifting sideways as he struggled to his feet and he pushed his hand against the wall behind him in a vain attempt to steady himself against the sideways movement. His hand slipped on the wall, the blood mixing with the moss and slime that had gathered there over the years. A deep groan emanating from the prone form on the ground spurred Sheppard on and with a final stuttered intake of breathe, he pushed himself away from the warehouse wall and staggered along the wharf towards the hazy light of the town centre in the distance.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Rodney was bored rigid. The meeting that had been arranged between himself and the eastern region grain master had not been his idea of a fun evening out and as he now sat in the man's office he could feel the blood flushing to his face and he inwardly cursed Sheppard's name.

The association of Grain traders had agreed to trade with Atlantis, but the regions were overseen by three completely individual masters, and each wanted to broker their own separate deal.

The eastern region was controlled by Gaven Syler, a full figured man with four small children, the eldest of which had delighted in playing a game of 'lets aggravate the visitor', before his father had suggested that they walk through to the back office to discuss the details of the trade agreement in more detail and in peace.

Rodney pretty much loathed children generally, but children who persisted in poking his leg for attention as he sat talking 'grain futures' were asking for trouble.

The child had looked so innocently at his father as he had been caught running his wooden train into Rodney's leg, but after a stern reprimand, he had merely stuck out his tongue at the scientist before retreating to the other side of the room with his siblings to play by the hearth.

Rodney had almost been at the end of his tether when his com had hissed for his attention. He had excused himself from the office and walked through the back door, finding himself outside the back door in the rear alley to the property.

His com now hissed again, but as he responded to the hail, he couldn't quite make out the words,

'R..ny …..h..rts!... tr..ble..' Rodney recognised Sheppard's voice, but the static hiss meant that he caught only a very small part of the transmission. Rodney pressed his com to answer,

"Sheppard! Is that you?" Rodney waited briefly after his own attempt to respond, but there was no further response, the infuriating static his only reply. He didn't like what he had caught from the brief message, and he was even more worried by the lack of any further contact. Pressing his own com link again, he waited until he heard Teyla's voice before speaking.

"Teyla, have you heard from Sheppard?!"

"Rodney, I have just received a broken transmission from the Colonel, I believe that he needs our help. He mentioned that he had been hit, I'm not sure what he meant, but he said that he was located at the 'docks?'." Her voice held the worry that Rodney was starting to feel himself, "I think we should meet at the lower section of the main thoroughfare in the town and make our way to the river side area, I am concerned that Colonel Sheppard is injured Rodney, he sounded…wrong"

"I know, I didn't catch very much of what he said, he kept breaking up, but from what I did hear I'm pretty sure that he's got himself into trouble again."

"Ronon and I will meet you where the street splits in two Rodney, near the tavern, I believe we need to hurry!"

"Right, I'll see you there in…five minutes, McKay out." Rodney turned back towards the office door, his head spinning with the sudden turn of events.

"What have you gotten yourself into this time Sheppard, can you never stay out of trouble", he muttered quietly to himself as the door opened under his push and he made his way back into the office and the waiting Syler.

Syler seemed surprised as Rodney reappeared through the back door looking worried and Rodney's admission that one of his team seemed to be in some sort of trouble peeked his interest even further.

"But what has happened Dr McKay!" He had risen from his seat as Rodney had re entered the room and now stood by the fire, "has there been an accident!"

"No, no, I'm sure its nothing. We just need to check that's all, just to be sure." Rodney felt unsure about trusting the man; after all, they actually knew very little about the people of this world.

Their initial contact had been made through one of the Athosian traders. He had informed them that they may be able to negotiate a trade agreement for the supply of grain with the inhabitants, but had admitted that he hadn't had much trade contact with the people himself. The initial contact had proven to be encouraging and from that, a formal meet and greet had been arranged, with Elizabeth tagging along to begin the official negotiations.As the regional grain masters were spread through the town, it had been agreed that the team should split and deal with them individually, especially as the basics of the deal had already been formalised by Elizabeth, so essentially all they would be doing was wrapping things up.It had been agreed that Sheppard would meet the representative from the central region, Rodney would take the eastern sector and Teyla, with Ronon tagging along, would meet with the western master. They hadn't trusted Ronon to negotiate on his own as he had a tendency to resort to 'stronger' methods to secure the deal of his choice, with very mixed results.

Rodney now mumbled a quick apology as he left the confines of the warm office, heading out into the cool night air and down the street in the direction of the tavern that they had agreed would be their starting point.

He felt strangely unnerved by the brief message that had come through his com. If Sheppard was in trouble, what had happened and why had the message been so short? His mind was starting to spin out all sorts of scenarios and he had to remind himself that Sheppard had probably just gotten involved in a tussle over a woman's honour and was probably suffering a sore head and nursing a bruised pride.

Rodney snorted with disgust as a scrawny cat ran across his path, carrying an unidentifiable lump in its mouth.

"Now that's just disgusting!"

Rodney side stepped the creature and continued down the slope towards the glowing lights of the nearing alehouse. Teyla was waiting for him as he rounded the side wall of the building with Ronon leaning against the wall lazily spinning his blaster in his fingers, to all intents and purposes looking bored out of his skull, but Rodney knew the look that he carried only too well and the tension was evident in Ronon's lowered eyes.

"Teyla, have you heard anything else; has he contacted you again?" Rodney could see that Teyla was worried as well. As she shook her head, he could see his own concern mirrored in her face.

"No Rodney, nothing more. I am now worried for his safety"

"He's tough, we'll just go find him that's all." Ronon looked at their surprised expressions, then continued "Where do we start McKay, did you bring the life signs scanner?"

"What, Oh, Yes, yes.." he pulled the LSD from his vest pocket and activated the screen, "OK, we've got plenty of hits, we just need to narrow the field down a bit." As he fiddled with the small screen, they began to make their way down the street towards the dockside area of the town.

"Where was he meeting Makill tonight, wasn't it near the docks anyway?" Ronon looked at the other two as they made their way down the side street that led towards Makill's office. The central grain master was the most influential of the three officers and held sway over the largest of the regions and as such had been flattered that his meeting had been arranged with the commanding officer of the visiting group.

"Sheppard did say earlier that Makill had mentioned his proximity to the docks. Apparently he chose the location to be nearer to his transport barges." Rodney tapped on the screen again, desperate to narrow their search.

"Well he could have chosen a slightly sweeter smelling place to work!" Ronon wrinkled his nose as the smell of the stale water drifted up from the direction of the riverside. Teyla looked over at the Satedan and smiled briefly at his grimace, but as her eyes focused back towards the street in front of her, she stopped suddenly. Backing up slightly she walked over to the opposite side of the street and stared at the wall in shock.

"Ronon, here!" She pointed to the mark that she had noticed on the wall, dark red against the grey stone of the building. Ronon touched the stain with outstretched fingers and then rubbed his thumb against the still wet liquid.

"It's blood, we've gotta be close, it's still wet!"

"Close, close to what!" Rodney looked at the blood stain in shock. It smeared along the wall like a bored child's finger painting and then disappeared.

"Ronon, I don't like this." Teyla gave Ronon a worried glance as they ran down the narrow street towards the riverside.

"Here!" Ronon had stopped by the side of one of the warehouses and now knelt on the gravel strewn ground. As Teyla and Rodney came level with him, he pointed to the large congealing pool of blood on the ground and the discarded wooden post also covered with blood stains.

"Somebody fell here," he pointed at a patch of scuffed earth, "there were two of them, and they both went off in that direction." He pointed towards the direction of the river bank. "One of them is loosing a lot of blood and the other is following, there see the tracks in the dirt, one over the other." He pointed out the tracks, but all Rodney could see were the deep red splashes of blood that led away into the mist.

"Who's bleeding? Oh my god if that's Sheppard, I hope we get to him before the other guy, that's.. that's an awful lot of blood."

"We need to hurry! Ronon which direction did they go?" Teyla voice betrayed her concern; the tremor was barely noticeable, but it was there all the same and as Ronon pointed towards the distant town centre, Teyla prayed that they wouldn't be too late.

"I've got two definite signals now!" Rodneys voice quaked, his fear about what had happened clearly apparent, "Oh no, I've just picked up another signal and it's closing fast on the other two!" He looked at his team mates, his eyes wide with concern.

"Ronon, we need to find them, can you follow the tracks?" Teyla waited whilst the Satedan rose up from his crouched position by the blood stained ground.

"It's a clear trail, and it's fresh. Shouldn't cause any problems"

"Then we need to go."

Ronon set the pace in a loping gait as they ran along the dockside in the direction of the busier town streets. Rodney followed holding the LSD up as he ran and Teyla followed, nervous now as she studied the shadows for hidden assailants. Their path took them past several huge grain storage silos; their towering shapes looming ominously in the mist. The area seemed empty of life as they pursued the three blips glowing on the small scanners screen, but it was getting late and most of the inhabitants would be with their families or taking a meal in one of the various taverns that served food to the working population.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! We've got a problem!" Rodney held up his hand and the others slowed down as he stared at the scanner screen, "One of the life signs just disappeared!"


	3. Chapter 3

Wow, thanks so much for the reviews guys!!! I am so glad you like the tale!!!...anyway, on we go...

**Chapter Three**

Sheppard knew he was slowing down; he had felt his legs weakening the further along the riverside he travelled and he was well aware that he was losing a lot of blood. The pain in his chest had resolved into an overwhelming deep agony and he knew his was in a lot of trouble; the staccato of his breathing pretty much confirmed that he had a punctured lung and the blood on his lips did nothing to allay his fears.

As he now stumbled along the wharf, he was also becoming more and more aware of a new and different source of pain. His back had started to ache abominably low down between his shoulder blades and he could feel the warm dribble of blood running down his spine to coalesce on the belt of his BDU's.

He couldn't understand at first how he could have injured his back, but then as his confused brain slowly started to remember the events back at the office, he suddenly realised. As great as the TAC vests were at repelling bullets, they were also pretty good at keeping them in; and as he was now fairly sure that the pain in his back was the exit wound of the bullet that had damaged his lung, he was also pretty sure that it had lodged in the material at the back of his vest and was now rubbing against the raw flesh on his back.

He could feel his attention wandering as he stumbled further on, the mist coming off the water was starting to twist in the strengthening breeze, creating shapes that twisted and swirled on the dockside, and Sheppard flinched as the shapes suddenly reminded him of Wraith mind games.

The sound of displaced gravel shook him out of his reverie and he turned to look behind him through the thickening mist. His attacker was now much closer than Sheppard had been aware, but then again, his reactions were slowing down and he was finding it progressively harder to cope with even the simplest tasks like walking and breathing. There was now barely two hundred metres between them as they both stopped and stood looking at each other through the gloom.

Sheppard looked around him where he stood, searching for anything that he could use as a weapon. The ground and surrounding area were strewn with discarded debris and his eyes stopped when the glint of metal caught his attention.

The metal pole was short, no more than half a metre in length, but as beggars couldn't be choosers, Sheppard lent precariously over to snag the pole off the ground. The smooth metal felt good under his grasp and he hefted the pole in his right hand as his nemesis moved towards him.

Sheppard stood his ground as the figure approached him. He pulled his left arm in hard against his damaged chest, trying to hold the field dressing in place and holding the short metal pole in his free right hand as he waited for the approaching figure. Whatever Sheppard did, he was very aware that running now wasn't now a option; he was in incredibly pain and his vision wavered drunkenly between fuzzy and completely non existent.

The figure walked hesitantly towards him, but as Sheppard watched, he could see that there was definitely something very wrong as the man lurched along the bank. Sheppard waited for the approaching figure, his arm shaking with the effort of maintaining a steady stance, but as the man staggered towards him, Sheppard slowly began to lower the metal pole from its defensive position in his hand as he began to realise that his attacker really was in a lot of trouble. As he watched in amazement, the man suddenly swerved to the side and fall, landing finally in crumpled heap on the filthy ground.

Sheppard walked slowly towards the fallen figure, keeping alert to the possibility that this was nothing but a ruse and that he would be attacked as he approached; but nothing happened and he reached the man's side without incident.

Kicking the fallen figure with his boot, Sheppard could see that the damage that he had inflicted with the wooden post had probably been pretty fatal.

The man's face was a bloody mess; his nose smashed to pieces and his lips split open, but Sheppard could only breath a sigh of relief at the gruesome sight. As much as he had been prepared to fight the man if necessary, he was pretty sure that he wouldn't have lasted too long in his present condition. Leaning over, Sheppard pressed a blood stained hand to the mans neck, but there was nothing there, he was dead.

As Sheppard turned away from the body, an unmistakable sound caused him to freeze in his tracks. The sound was originating from the fallen figures jacket and it sounded very much like a com device clicking for attention. Sheppard grunted with effort as he lent over once more, this time pulling the radio from the grubby jacket pocket where it had been hidden. It wasn't a com configuration that he recognised but there was definitely a send and receive button on the side and Sheppard pushed it.

"Stavin, are you there?" The voice sounded deeply harassed, the tone rough and filled with clearly unsuppressed anger.

"Stavin this is Dower, did you get him? Stavin!"

Sheppard clicked the radio off and pushed it clumsily into his own pocket, his fingers were now feeling stiff with cold and unresponsive. At least he knew now that his attacker hadn't been acting alone and he would have to remain as alert as he could. The night air was becoming much cooler as the sun finally disappeared and Sheppard was becoming ever more aware of his failing body. His head was throbbing with the effort of staying upright and he could feel the encroaching weakness taking up residence in his muscles and the tremors in his hands becoming more and more obvious.

With a final disgusted look at the dead figure on the ground, Sheppard turned away and started to head again towards the only place that he knew he could find help; the agreed meeting place. As his own com link didn't seem to be working and he had no other way of contacting his team, he had to try to reach them himself.

The lowering light levels and his own failing strength were not helping as Sheppard concentrated totally on just putting one foot in front of another as he struggled along the darkened riverside. His brain was having a hard time processing information, but one thing that kept coming back to nag at him was the thought that a 'Wraith' had issued a bounty on his head and possibly that of the rest of the team; and his concern for his friends started swirling around in his dulled thoughts. What if they had already been captured, what if they were already dead!

He was well aware that the Wraith really hated him, but he was finding it hard to imagine one of them taking it to this extreme and sending a paid killer after him or the team, but then again he really had pissed an awful lot of them off over the last few months, so anything was possible.

The dockside was strewn with abandoned grain sacks and unidentifiable debris and Sheppard had to concentrate hard on his footing as he pressed forward towards the nearing residential area of the town. The people who lived and worked around the docklands area had seemed hard working and friendly, but every place has its fair share of bad apples and obviously this place was no different; the right incentive or the right amount of money could encourage a lot of people to have a change of character very quickly. Sheppard thought back to the meeting that they had attended three nights previously, when the sector masters had put forward their individual requests with regard to trade. Sheppard tried to remember if there had been anyone there that had struck him as being out of place, but his mind wasn't functioning on all cylinders and he was finding it hard to even remember the faces that he knew were legitimate. Who had sold them out, and why?

His attention was starting to wander and he failed to notice the sudden swift movement in the shadows behind him, or the minute sound of gravel being crushed under foot. His focus was fixed firmly on the path in front of him as the lone figure moved silently through the shadows that ran parallel to his position and ducked into one of the darkened doorways.

Sheppard trudged wearily on towards his goal, single minded in his purpose; intent on hopefully reaching his team before any harm befell them. He didn't see the figure run from the warehouse on his right and it wasn't until the sound of the heavy footfalls penetrated his fuzzy brain that he reacted and turned around.

The fast moving figure hit him with enough force to knock him spinning to the ground, the breath knocked from his already battered chest. As Sheppard hit the ground, he struggled to draw a breath, but his lungs refused to cooperate with him and all he could do was cough violently. His mouth filled with the warm tang of blood and he gagged.

His assailant pressed forward with his advantage and Sheppard felt himself turned viciously onto his stomach and his arms pulled towards the middle of his back. He couldn't stop the cry from breaking through his lips as his eyes closed, the roar of blood in his ears blocking out any other sound. He could feel himself drifting down towards the black abyss, but a boot pressed into the centre of his back brought him stinging back from the edge of unconsciousness and he felt his arms pulled backwards and up as he was dragged up onto his feet.

His normally high threshold for pain had been bypassed a good while ago and he could feel himself going under. As he felt himself dropping down, his legs caving in under the intense agony, he was spun ferociously around to face his attacker.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Ronon's attention was fixed on the ground in front of him as they continued along the dockside area, so he didn't spot the body that lay ahead of them immediately.

He could almost taste the blood that was spattered on the gravel surface in front of him and, studying the patterns, he was pretty sure that there were actually two different tracks. The trail that he was following appeared very distinct to his practiced eye and he didn't need to be told that there were now two people losing blood and that their injuries were pretty serious.

It was Teyla who was the first to spot the crumpled body in the encroaching mist and she found herself unable to stop her hand raising to her mouth in fear as she stopped in her tracks.

"Is that…" Rodney hesitated, not wanting to speak Sheppard's name in case it proved to be right.

"Doesn't look like him, clothes aren't right." Ronon's simple statement encouraged them to move forwards towards the still form and as then neared the figure it became glaringly apparent that it wasn't the body of their friend.

Ronon reached the body first and crouched down beside the man's still form.

"Anyone recognise him?" he looked up at his two team mates as he spoke, but both shook their heads.

"As if anyone could recognise him the state he's in! That is a truly disgusting mess," Rodney pointed to the crushed nose and lips of the dead man, "Do you think Sheppard did that?"

"Rodney, if Colonel Sheppard was attacked, then he may have been forced to defend himself at all costs." Teyla crouched beside Ronon as he studied the body.

"I do not remember seeing this man during any of the meetings that we attended."

"No, but I think its possible we were probably well known to him!" Ronon stood up from his crouched position and held out the identity card that he had removed from the pocket of the man's blood tarnished jacket. The face on the ID was certainly that of the man on the ground, but what shocked the group was that the ID card was from the town's security council and stated that the dead man was a sector chief based in the security council's headquarters.

"His name was Stavin," Rodney studied the card that Ronon had handed to him, "What on earth has Sheppard gotten himself caught up in now! Can that man never stay out of trouble!"

"Rodney, until we find Colonel Sheppard we cannot assume anything. All we do know is that there was an incident and it appears that both men were injured." Teyla looked back and forth between her two team mates as she spoke. "We need to find out what has happened before we 'jump to any decisions'

"That would be 'conclusions' Teyla, jumping to conclusions," Rodney couldn't help himself from correcting her grammar.

"Rodney "she gave him a stern look as she continued, "we need to find the Colonel as quickly as possible if we are to find out what actually happened."

Ronon studied the ground around the dead body, then let his eyes track off into the distance, "We better hurry if that's Sheppard's blood" Ronon pointed to the splatters of deep red blood that led off into the mist, "if he's hurt and loosing that amount of blood, we're gonna need to find him fast," Ronon rose onto his feet from his crouched position by the body and turned to Rodney, "Is he alone or has he still got company?"

"What, oh right," Rodney tore his eyes away from the dead body and looked back at the scanner screen, "He's still got company, close company and they're not that far ahead of us, "he turned as he consulted the screen, "in ..that direction!" he pointed along the wharf.

"We need to go." Teyla couldn't hide the worry that she felt as they started off in the direction that Rodney had indicated. Ronon, who had walked off in the long loping gait that seemed to carry him two steps for their one, set a hard pace as they headed off in the direction of the mist shrouded town.

He led them along the wharf for about two hundred metres before slowing to a halt, holding up his hand in a gesture of caution. He had noticed that the ground in front of him had been disturbed and he could clearly see the signs of a struggle having taken place. The gravel was scuffed roughly around and as he crouched again, he placed his fingers in the pool of thick blood that he had noticed on the ground. The blood was still fluid, fresh and he felt the flush of dread pass through him as he considered the sort of injury that could have lead to that amount of blood loss.

"Is that what I think it is!" Rodney looked intently at the red stain, a mixture of disgust and worry evident in his strained voice.

"Yeah, more blood and we're getting closer, this is very fresh!" Ronon stood and looked towards the grain silos. There was a definite trail leading towards the towering buildings. The gravel was displaced and strewn around and Ronon could see that somebody or something had been dragged away towards the warehouses.

"Well there are still two signals and they're very close together …..whoa, whoa," He looked up at the other two, "They just vanished altogether, this is not good!"

"They cannot have both vanished, Rodney are you sure?" Teyla turned to the scientist.

"Well, let's just say that both of the signals just disappeared, or is that not succinct enough for you!" Rodney could feel the stress building in his body and the sarcasm came out as an automatic reaction. He looked back at the scanner and stabbed viciously at the small screen before turning his attention back to his two waiting team mates. "As I just said, the signals aren't there anymore but, I am detecting a build up of energy coming from the direction of one of those grain stores."

"Then I guess that's where we start." Ronon didn't wait for a response to his statement, but started off towards the towering buildings.

"Ronon, we need to be cautious. If the security council is involved in whatever has happened, we cannot trust that there will not be more of them waiting for us inside"

"Sheppard needs us Teyla, he's in trouble. There's a good chance he's hurt pretty badly if that blood is anything to go by," he pointed at the congealing stain in the gravel.

"Ronon, I am only indicating that we need to be cautious, that is all" Teyla's eyes flashed in anger as she spoke to the Satedan, "we are all concerned, but it will not help Colonel Sheppard if we are captured or injured ourselves!"

Ronon pulled two knives from their hidden sheaths under his jacket and held one out towards Teyla, "I'm pretty much prepared." Teyla raised an eyebrow at the Satedan, but took the proffered weapon, twisting it in her hand, testing the balance.

"Wait, we're going in there with just two knives! ..are you completely mad. We have no idea what's waiting for us in there!" Rodney indicated towards the buildings.

"Well, we'll find out when we get there, won't we." Ronon had decided that enough was enough and turned towards the looming grain stores. Spinning the knife in his fingers, he responded to Rodney's outburst as he started forward "All I know is that, as far as we know there's only one other person in there with Sheppard, so the odds are pretty much stacked in our favour," and he started towards the building.

"Oh god, Conan is going to get us all killed!" Rodney looked towards Teyla, but she had already started after Ronon, the long knife visible in her lowered hand.

"And the scientist goes last…," Rodney muttered to himself as he followed the other two towards the last known position that they had for their missing CO.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Sheppard tried to stay on his feet as he was spun around to face the man who had attacked him from the shadows, but his weakening state and dulled senses couldn't keep up with the sudden movement and he found himself dropping heavily onto his knees. His lungs burned with an intense fire as he struggled to pull in the oxygen that his body desperately needed, but it seemed that for every breath he pulled in, his lungs kicked out in rebellion and he found himself coughing up the warmth of sticky blood instead. He was slowly drowning in his own blood and he felt pretty sure that without help, he probably didn't have very much time left; he could already feel the heavy resistance growing in the left side of his chest with every short breath that he tried to draw in.

His attacker showed him no mercy as he pulled sharply on Sheppard's arms, dragging him up once more onto shaking legs. As Sheppard stood before the man, he looked for the first time into the eyes of his attacker. He struggled to find a name to fit the face in front of him, his brain fogged with uncertainty. The face looked familiar to him, but from where and why; and then it finally struck him.

"I-I know you…" he swallowed hard against the slowly building nausea in his belly which was verging on making a sudden appearance, " you were at the m-meetings, but… why.." he struggle to make sense of what his eyes were seeing, "you were ..ahh" he skewed to the side as his arms were yanked further up behind him, " y-you were in charge of the s-security detail at t-the meetings!"

"Very astute of you Colonel Sheppard. Yes, and I forget my manners, 'Chief of Security' Darik Stower at your service!" The sarcasm dripped from the man's tongue as he faced his victim, "I am indeed employed by the area's governing body to oversee their security provisions and if I may say so, I am very good at my job," again the leering smile, "our area has a comparatively low crime rate compared to other areas around us; I have developed a preventative system that seems to, shall we say, 'dissuade' criminals from coming here. They seem to find the threat of being exchanged for financial recompense, unpalatable."

"Y-you!...you are the bounty hunter!" Sheppard looked back at the man in amazement, hissing as the movement pulled at the raw flesh on his side and back.

"Indeed! It became necessary to supplement my meagre income with 'alternate employment' when the right opportunity arose, what can I say, I enjoy the finer things in life!" He smiled cruelly at Sheppard's shocked expression, "It proved quite fortuitous for me when I heard that your people had expressed an interest in a trade agreement with us, especially as my sources had already received details of your 'worth' in a certain market, it actually saved me the inconvenience of creating a fitting lure for you myself."

"But w-we, trusted you…."

"Ah, trust… What can I say, needs must!!!" The laugh that he produced sent a chill that penetrated through to Sheppard's very soul. "Now, if you would be so kind Colonel, we have a strict schedule to keep if I am to meet my commitments to my client."

Sheppard felt his head spinning as the new development worked itself around his fuzzy brain, and his forehead creased in anguish as he considered the fact that his disappearance would never now be investigated by the authorities.

"What happened t-to Makill?" Sheppard stumbled as he spoke, almost dropping down again to his knees, but once more he was jerked back onto his feet as they moved closer to the darkened perimeter of the wharf. He bit his lip hard as a red hot lance of pain drove through his chest, the blood salty on his lips as he tried to stifle the cry that fought to erupt through his clenched teeth.

"Ah yes, Makill," the voice dropped in tone, "unfortunate but necessary I'm afraid. The river here holds many secrets under its stinking depths and as head of security it will be my responsibility to search for his body in the coming days, unsuccessfully of course…."

"You k-killed him!" Sheppard couldn't believe that his life could be worth so much. He found it hard to imagine that any amount of money could justify the deaths of innocent people for the sake of a bounty payment, but then these people lived by a different set of rules entirely.

"He proved, how shall we put it, 'difficult'…"

Stower pushed Sheppard in the small of his back, eliciting a cry of pain as the wound between his shoulder blades flared up again in agony. Sheppard could feel a fresh trickle of blood running down his back as he stumbled forwards towards the grain silos at the perimeter of the dock area.

"So, w-who have I p-pissed off n-now.." Sheppard needed to find out what was going on, even if there was nothing that he could do about it.

"Who, or what more like!" Stower laughed once more, his bloated face shaking at his own joke.

"W-what do you m-mean?" Sheppard was confused, he looked back at the security man as he closely followed Sheppard towards the looming silos.

"Well Lantean, lets just say that my client is 'very' keen to make your acquaintance again and was willing to make it very worth while for us to make that happen. Apparently, you have some 'unfinished business' that needs to be attended to, but you will find out soon enough who 'he' is; my client is meeting us later to collect his 'package'.

"If there's a-anything l-left by then.." Sheppard's whispered words were met with anger as Stower rounded on him.

"Stavin disobeyed my direct order! We were hired to deliver you 'alive', but my colleague obviously decided that dead would be easier, even though the payment is far less, but then he won't be making that mistake again will he Colonel Sheppard, you saw to that! And we will just have to make sure that you are still alive when the exchange takes place won't we, because whatever happens after that is really none of my concern."

"H-how much.." Sheppard's whispered voice betrayed the weakness that was permeating his body, "How much did he p-pay you..?

"Oh, enough Lantean, enough…" Stower pressed Sheppard forwards once more as they approached the edge of the largest silo. He paused in front of the silo's metallic cylindrical body and withdrew a control box from his jacket pocket. He pressed a series of buttons on the box and as Sheppard watched, a door suddenly appeared in the body of the building as its hidden shielding dropping away.

Sheppard felt the fear bite in his stomach as they walked towards the opening in the towering building. If the building was shielded, then it was going to prove almost impossible for his team to find him; that was, if they were even still alive themselves.

"Impressive isn't it Colonel Sheppard." Stower indicated towards the now apparent doorway, "Our side line meant that we were in need of a place to, how shall I say, contain our stock! We were able to make certain 'alterations' to this building which have enabled us to conceal ourselves extremely well, and especially as this building had been unused for many years, we have had no difficulty in maintaining the illusion,"

Stower pushed Sheppard through the opening and closed the shield behind them, "We are virtually undetectable in here Colonel, thanks in someway to a piece of technology loaned to me by one of my more regular clients, so I am afraid that your colleagues will indeed fail if they come looking for you around here."

Stower pushed Sheppard into the centre of the room and towards a series of individual holding cells set within the circular boundaries of the silo. Each 'room' contained only a low bed that had been bolted into the solid floor. The looming walls that rose up past the ceiling of the cell and on into the darkened heights of the silo above, were of a dull grey hue and tarnished in places with the unidentifiable stains from the habitation of their previous occupants. Behind the thick metal bars that made up the front walls, the rooms was small and dank, with the fetid smell of stale sweat drifting from within.

Pushing Sheppard in front of him towards one of the cages, Stower pulled a key from his jacket pocket and inserted it into the solid lock of the barred door. The lock clicked loudly, the sound echoing around the cylindrical walls of the tower. Stower pulled the door open with one hand and pushed Sheppard forward with the other, releasing his arms as he did.

Sheppard felt himself falling towards the floor, his legs now unable to support his weight. He tried to bring his numb arms around to break his fall onto the hard floor, but they refused to obey his commands and he hit the floor face first.

His body exploded with pain. He gasped as his chest flared into a burning fireball of agony, reducing him to tears as he struggled to draw in a healing breath. His chest wouldn't work properly, the air wouldn't come and he squirmed on the dirty floor as he struggled to supply oxygen to his starving lungs. His brain had reached a state of over load, the agony washing over him in waves of acidic fire, blocking out any other sensation. He grasped at the floor, struggling to find something to focus on other than the agony, but the strain of trying to draw in air that wasn't forthcoming was becoming too much and he could feel himself sliding away into the depths of the black abyss.

He felt his body pulled up off the floor and he was jerked back to awareness as he felt himself pulled onto his feet and manhandled towards the low bed. He could feel the rough blanket under the back of his head as Stower lowered him down onto the low surface. As he opened his eyes again, the bulky figure of the bounty hunter stood looking down at him.

"Hmmm, looks like Stavin decide that a dead bounty was definitely easier to handle than a live one, but then he was always lazy. Ok Colonel, lets see if we can keep you alive a bit longer shall we, I know my 'client' was quite adamant that he needed you alive , apparently you have some unfinished business that needs discussing personally!"

Stower laughed grimly at his own joke, then lent over Sheppard and pulled the blood soaked vest and jacket over his shoulders and off. The bounty hunter smelt of fresh sweat and coffee as his face passed within Sheppard's eye line and Sheppard turned his head away in disgust.

As the jacket and vest were removed and dropped to the floor, the cool air hit Sheppard's over heated skin and he shivered violently, his teeth chattering as his body tried, and failed to maintain its core temperature. The sudden movement of his body and the change in his body temperature had an almost immediate effect on his nausea ridden belly and he found himself clutching at the rough blanket at his side as he felt the acid sting of bile rising up and hitting the back of his throat. He gagged, trying desperately to keep from throwing up, but his body had other plans and he couldn't stop himself from retching. Stower stood back as Sheppard's body rebelled violently and his eyes widened as he looked down at the blood stained vomit splashing down onto the flagstone floor.

Sheppard was in hell, his torment complete. As he spat out the last of the foul fluid onto the floor of the room, he felt his head spinning and he collapsed back onto the bed, wiping his hand across his mouth but too weak to move any further.

"Water….?" Sheppard whispered the request to the silent room, his eyes still closed against the agony that assailed his abused body and not expecting an answer, but then he felt a cup held against his lips and he sipped on the cool fluid. He coughed as the water hit his dry and burning throat, but it felt good as it cooled his raging thirst.

"Ok, lets see what Stavin managed to do to you shall we and if we can keep you alive a bit longer Lantean" Stower's voice vibrated around Sheppard's fevered brain and he opened his eyes a crack to look up at the bulky man leaning over him. He felt his shirt pulled up and over the wound on his torso and his head span once more as he was turned roughly onto his side.

"Tsk..tsk…That's not so good Lantean, my client will not be happy if you die before he gets his hands on you, so it looks like we need to sort those wounds out."

Sheppard felt the blood soaked field dressing pulled away from the wound under his left arm and he pulled in a stuttered breath as he was turned once more onto his back on the blanket. Stower disappeared briefly into one of the rooms on the other side of the silo's structure; then reappeared again carrying a box which he set on the floor beside Sheppard's bed.

"Those wounds need sealing up Lantean, I'm fairly sure you've got a hole in your lung, I've seen it before and if it's not treated properly, you're going to die quickly enough anyway." Stower sighed deeply as he shook his head at Sheppard's abused body, "but then, I get paid much more if you are still alive when you are collected, so I suppose it's in my best interests to keep you alive until then." Stower leant over and pulled the box towards him across the floor, its metal casing grating along the rough stone underneath. Sheppard heard the creak of the box lid as it opened and then the sound of supplies being pulled out.

Stower placed the dressings and bandages on the bed beside Sheppard's shivering form and once more pulled the blood saturated shirt up and over his ribs, exposing the jagged wound under his arm. He picked up a bottle of fluid from the box and poured the cool contents over the wound site. Sheppard cried out as the fluid stung his raw skin and he pushed limply at the bounty hunters hands as his body cramped in pain.

Stower washed both wounds thoroughly before placing the bottle back in the box again, ignoring Sheppard's protesting hands. Satisfied with his efforts, he then took clean dressings from the battered box and prepared one for each of the oozing wounds. As the dressings were applied to his skin, Sheppard could feel the sweat dripping off his face and running down his neck to drench the covers under his head, but his dulled mind couldn't coordinate his limbs enough to wipe the liquid away from his stinging eyes.

"Well, that will have to do for now Colonel Sheppard, hopefully you will last until my client arrives in," he looked at the dusty time piece on the wall, "approximately two hours, that is if he keeps to the agreed time."

Sheppard opened his pain filled eyes and looked up at the bulky man standing over him. His throat felt dry and cracked and as he tried to speak, his voice came out as no more than a dry whisper, "Who, …who paid you..?"

He coughed as the effort of speaking drained his strength, but he needed to know who he had pissed off so badly. They had made so many enemies over the past few years and a lot of them had been Wraith, but why would any of them go to this extreme to get hold of him when they had a whole fleet of cruisers and darts to use when they needed. That was the thing that his confused brain was struggling to come to terms with. If it was a Wraith who had set the bounty, why was he or she acting alone and not as part of the hive, or was he completely wrong and could it have been a hive decision?

"You will find out soon enough Colonel, he will be arriving shortly and you can become … reacquainted with each other, he seemed very eager to meet you again" Stower chuckled as he moved off towards the doorway and closing the door he walked away towards one of the other rooms.

As Sheppard heard the key turn in the lock, he finally allowed himself to surrender to the encroaching darkness and his body finally drifted away into unconsciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six **

****

Teyla had followed closely in Ronon's wake as they had started off on Sheppard's trai,l with Rodney staying close behind, his attention fully focused on the LSD even though the signal had already disappeared from its small screen. Ronon hadn't needed the LSD to tell him the tale of what had happened to their CO before they had arrived by the riverside area, he had clearly seen the point at which Sheppard had been attacked and he had been left in no doubt where Sheppard had actually fallen, the blood not withstanding.

His years on the run from the Wraith had honed the Satedan's hunting and tracking skills to an extremely fine degree and there were very few tracks that he couldn't decipher easily, so he had had no problem when it came to following the tracks of his own friend. The distinct tracks had been gouged deeply into the gravel top surface and Ronon could see almost immediately that Sheppard had been taken against his will; the signs of a struggle evident in the markings on the ground. The blood spatters that accompanied the scuffed gravel only served to reiterate that their friend had been seriously injured when he had been dragged away, so Ronon had wasted no time in heading off towards the lofty grain silos, with Teyla and Rodney in tow.

The looming buildings that had been seen in the distance, now offered plenty of opportunity for cover as Ronon led them towards the location where the signals on the life signs detector had been lost.

Ronon reached the buildings first, pausing only when he could duck into the darkened cover offered by the first of the towering grain stores. As they stood waiting in the dark shadows of the silo, they were forced to finally take stock of what they had been able to deduce about their situation, and it wasn't good. Their CO and friend had been abducted against his will by an unidentified assailant who it seemed had connections with the security division of the towns council and they had no idea why he had been taken or where.

Teyla stood sullenly against the battered and stained metallic sheeting of the silo's towering side and laid her head gently back against the cool surface, closing her eyes momentarily as she waited in the darkness. Rodney moved unconsciously from one foot to another as he watched the small scanner in his hand, waiting for the reappearance of the signals that they had lost previously. Ronon just waited, his breathing shallow and controlled, his eyes fixed on the area directly ahead of the group. He knew that if they waited long enough, an opportunity had to present itself and he would be ready for that chance. The man inside one of those buildings had taken his friend and Ronon would do pretty much anything to get him back.

"What now then, do we just wait here until Mr 'Hi, I'm the bad guy' turns up!" Rodney took his eyes off the screen and looked at his team mates in concern.

"No, we just need to wait until Mr Bad Guy decided to make a mistake." Ronon lifted an eyebrow as he turned and responded to the scientist.

"And what then Conan! We don't know how many there are in there or even," he swallowed and turned his eyes to the ground, "or even if Sheppard is still alive." His voice tapered off as he put voice to everyone's fears.

"Rodney, we must stay hopeful that Colonel Sheppard is not too badly injured, we don't know what has happened, but we must continue to hold onto hope." Teyla moved over to the fretful scientist and placed a comforting hand on his arm, "John is still alive Rodney, we would not be here if he had been killed, they would have left him behind."

"Yes, you're probably right, why hang on to a dead man…"

"Keep your voice down McKay," Ronon's whispered voice silenced the conversation between his team mates and they looked over towards where he was pointing. The wall of one of the silos had changed as they stared and where before there had been only metal sheeting, now appeared a doorway.

"Its shielded!" Rodney hissed at his team mates, "That's unbelievable, the technology here is way, way behind the level needed to create a shield mechanism of that design, someone here has access to technology way above their means and that's not good!"

The door shone brightly with the light that shone from inside and as they continued watching from their concealed position, a figure appeared silhouetted in the framework, paused looking around the immediate area and then lit a thick cigarette. Inhaling the dense smoke that the cigarette created, the man leant against the door frame, obviously savouring the moment. As the team waited and watched, the figure took a final deep pull on the cigarette, then with obvious reluctance, stubbed the burning end out on the ground and turned back into the confines of the towering storage building pausing only to pull a small panel from his pocket and press the screen. The doorway vanished as swiftly as it had appeared and the only evidence that there had ever been of activity there was the glowing cigarette butt that lay in the gravel, a thin stream of smoke lifting into the air as the breeze caught the grey smoke in its cool fingers.

"We need to find the control panel for that door, there's got to be an external access point!" Rodney started forwards, but was caught in Ronon's hard grip.

"Yes we do McKay, but first we need to wait until we can be sure that there's nobody else around. Let me scout the area first.."

"Ronon wait…" Teyla's words fell on deaf ears as the Satedan melted away into the mist shrouded air.

"Teyla, if I can get close enough to the doorway, I should be able to find the right frequency to open the door, depending on the technology that is and of course that is if we can…"

Teyla interrupted Rodney's anxious babble, "I understand Rodney, but first we need to wait for Ronon, then we will know if it is safe to proceed any further."

"Sheppard's in there, possibly bleeding to death as we stand here and, …. that is if he's not already…" Rodney left the sentence unfinished, but Teyla smiled gently at him all the same.

"I know Rodney, but without knowing if there are others around, we must wait."

Teyla hated the waiting as much as Rodney. She was just as anxious as anyone in her need to find John, but she calmed herself as she waited, knowing that panic and concern led to mistakes being made and lives being lost.

She had always been able to control her emotions to a certain degree; leading her people had instilled in her the need to consider all sides of a situation and to maintain a level head, whatever happened. She was finding her control stretched to the absolute limit now as she waited for Ronon to complete his sweep of the area, she needed to be moving, she desperately needed to find out why John had been attacked in the first place.

Finding out that the security council were involved in whatever had happened to him filled her with a dread that sat deeply at her stomach, churning over and over as she considered the ramifications of that discovery. They would have to trust only each other again, as so often happened when they ended up in trouble off world; trust in each other and their individual skills. She trusted Ronon with her life, his skills in a fight the stuff of legends. She trusted that Rodney would always 'pull the rabbit out of the hat', he was a genius and there didn't seem to be any technological problem that he was unable to overcome. And then there was John… she trusted him completely. He had proven himself so many times in the past. He had shown his fierce loyalty on many occasions, his courage and his selflessness; even to the point of giving up his life to protect his people, a quality that he had demonstrated on far too many occasions.

Ronon reappeared suddenly at Teyla's shoulder, and she found herself shaken out of her reverie.

"We're alone at the moment, so McKay do you think you can open the door?"

"What, have I even looked at it yet, do I know how the shield works yet…so that would be a no, well… a 'not yet'.." the final addendum brought a smile to Teyla's lips, Rodney just wasn't capable of turning down a challenge of any description, and that was one of the reasons he was so good at what he did, because his ego wouldn't let him fail.

"Ok, so do we go" Ronon looked between the two of them, waiting for agreement. Teyla opened her mouth to reply, but then a frown spread deeply across her forehead and she turned away from the group and stared into the dark swirling mist further up the dockside.

"Teyla, what is it.. what's wrong" Ronon was confused and looked to Rodney for an explanation. Rodney shrugged.

"There is something there, I can feel it" Teyla closed her eyes as she concentrated on her thoughts, "It is not quite the same, but still…."

"What Teyla, what do you see!" Rodney could feel the stress building in his body and his voice betrayed him, "Are there others out there, is that it!"

"No Rodney," Teyla opened her eyes and looked at her team mates, "I can feel a Wraith presence," her face contorted in confusion once more and then, "oh no, it's cannot be possible…. he cannot be here!"

"Who, who is here…" Rodney was getting nervous and looked to Teyla as she stood transfixed, then he suddenly realised what she had said "What do you mean 'HE'…is here?" Rodney looked down to his hand as the small scanner blipped for his attention, "Oh no…we've got company, I've got a definite signal heading this way!"

Teyla turned to the two expectant faces, her face a picture of shock and anxiety, "Its Michael, he is here, I can feel him!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven **

****

Fevered dreams.

Dreams of dark worlds.

Dreams of abandonment and loss.

Dreams of his enemies.

Dreams of the Wraith hunting him through mist laden forests, catching him and feeding.

Feeding although he struggled to push them away, struggled to repel the demonic faces that leered at him through the swirling tendrils of smoky fog.

Faces that grimaced, all black teeth shining in the dappled moonlight.

Faces that mocked him as he lay with his hands pulled up to his chest.

Faces that knew no mercy, no pity, no humour, no passion.

Faces, faces, faces….and finally death!

Sheppard jerked harshly awake to the sound of the lock on his cell turning. Any return from unconsciousness was unpleasant, but to waken in a foreign cell without the comforting bleep of monitors, without the sickly sterile smell of disinfectant and with the aching realisation that the pain that had driven him under was still ominously present; nothing could be worse.

His sweat caked eyes cracked open slightly, protesting at the sudden influx of bright light from the dust covered fitting above and he turned his body towards the source of the familiar sound. That minute movement of his abused body sent a spear of agony spiking through his chest again, setting a throbbing tempo as his heart pounded behind his bruising ribs. He closed his eyes against the pain, riding through the torment and trying desperately to control uncontrollable nerve endings. His breath came in harsh gasps, his chest heavy. The weight that had sat on the left side of his chest earlier had now increased, and as he lay in the cell, he could feel the unyielding resistance each time he pulled in a breath.

Another sound penetrated his dulled senses and he once more turned his face to the doorway and opened his eyes. The blurred figure sharpened slowly into focus and Sheppard could just make out Stower standing in the doorway of the cell, his face an impassive mask as he had watched Sheppard's struggle towards consciousness.

"Ah, good!" he walked over to the side of the low bed and Sheppard stared up at him from his prone position, "you are still with us then Lantean, I have to admit to having felt a little bit concerned that I would have to forsake a large portion of my bounty if you died before the client arrived, but," he smiled down at Sheppard, showing brown tinted teeth through thick lips, "you must be stronger than you look…Good!"

Sheppard licked his dry lips, " n-not easy t'kill…", he panted at the effort that those few words cost him, "been t-there, ..ahh!.. d-done that.."

"Really! Well to have attracted such a powerful enemy as the Wraith, you must have done something very wrong, or very stupid!!" Stower laughed at his joke and crouched beside Sheppard's shivering body, "You are worth a lot to my client Lantean, I have to ask myself what he would want with a soldier such as yourself, someone so, how shall we say, 'ordinary' ...I had expected someone altogether more.. 'extraordinary', but then who am I to second guess my clients."

As Stower rose back onto his feet and headed back towards the direction of the cell door, Sheppard took as deep a breath as he could muster and with an enormous effort pushed himself onto his side, then moved slowly towards the edge of the bunk and threw his legs over the side. The movements completely shattered his already well surpassed pain threshold and he closed his eyes as his body threatened to send him pitching down into the black once more. He sat on the edge of the bed shivering, struggling desperately to maintain his composure as the fiery tendrils of pain wove through his ribcage and down his back. He knew that Stower had stopped in the doorway and he wanted to prove to him that he was no 'ordinary' soldier, and that he had an inner strength that couldn't be beaten down.

"Lantean! Do you have a death wish, or are you just plain stupid!"

Sheppard lifted his head and looked straight up at Stower, "S-stubborn, ..just p-plain stubborn.."

"Yes, there is no denying 'that', is there!" Stower shook his head as he crossed the room and then returned to Sheppard's cell with a metallic cup filled with water.

"Here, drink," he held the cup out towards Sheppard and waited. Sheppard looked up and held the bounty hunters gaze for several seconds before his eyes fixed on the proffered cup of water. He balanced himself as best as he could on the edge of the bed and stretched his right hand out towards the cup; his left pulled tightly in to his side, protecting his injury. His hand was shaking uncontrollably as he took the cup and the water splashed over the edges of the metal container, but Sheppard was determined that he would show no weakness and finally managed to bring the cup to his lips, closing his eyes as he took the sweet liquid down. His shaking hand meant that much of the liquid spilt on the floor, but enough found its way into his mouth to slake his thirst.

"Yes Lantean, stubborn you are!"

Sheppard placed the now empty cup down on the bed beside him and allowed his body to keel over, back onto the rough blankets that were his only source of warmth. He felt incredibly cold and he couldn't stop the tremors from travelling up and down his body as the cool night air brought texture to his exposed sweat covered skin. The sweat that ran off his chest and stomach soaked deeply into his shirt and then off and into the blanket below him, mingling with the older unidentifiable stains that resided there already. He clutched weakly at the dirty covering and pulled it over his shoulder, desperate to find solace in the meagre warmth that the blanket provided.

As he lay, he could feel the water that he had imbibed sitting in his belly like a lead weight, not settling as he had so desperately wanted, not providing the sustenance that his body needed. His stomach rebelled again and it took all of his concentration to keep the bile from hitting the back of his throat once more. He swallowed wildly in a last gasp attempt to prevent himself from retching and finally, slowly the feeling subsided and he allowed himself to relax back onto the rough covers.

As his hand had pulled the cover up to his shoulder, his fingers had brushed briefly against the still present com link wrapped around his ear. Had Stower been so arrogant as to leave it there, or had he forgotten to remove it; either way, Shepprd's finger touched the earpiece gently as he watched Stower turning away from him.

"It won't work Colonel ..the radio, the signal has been jammed," Stower waved a small box over his shoulder without even looking back at the cell, "one of my more fortunate trades. Unfortunately for you, as soon as Stavin advised me of the situation in Makill's office, I activated the jamming mechanism. It is only short range, but quite sufficient for my needs, so once more, I really don't think that you should be expecting a rescue from your 'friends' any time soon."

"What have you done t-to my t-team…" Sheppards teeth chattered as the shock overwhelming his body and the cold both took effect, "where are t-they."

"Where!... Where indeed," Stower turned back towards the cell doorway, " I expect they are all still contentedly ensconced in the separate meetings that I arranged. Do you really think that all the meetings were arranged at the same time in different locations by accident!! I needed you to be alone Colonel, and I needed to make sure that your companions were out of the way. They have no idea where you are, or that you are not now sharing a warming drink with Makill! I needed it to be that way and that was what was arranged!" Stower smiled at Sheppard's shocked expression, "Being head of security has its advantages Lantean."

Sheppard closed his eyes in disbelief as he heard the lock turn once more on the cell door and Stower's footsteps head towards the shielded doorway.

He had always assumed that they had been in control of the events of that evening, but as he thought back, he started to remember how happy Stower had seemed to be in helping with the organization of the individual meetings.

As Sheppard opened his eyes once more and turned his face towards the centre of the tower, he saw the bounty hunter stoop towards a low shelf and retrieve a packet of cigarettes from a box placed there. The control panel that operated the shield over the doorway sat on a small table beside the shelf and Stower picked it up and pointed it at the blank wall space. The door reappeared, just as it had done before and Stower walked towards the entrance, glanced through the doorway cautiously before stepping partially through and standing against the wall to light the cigarette he held in his fingers. Sheppard studied the man as he stood in the soft glow of the evening moon. He was a stockily built, tall man; easily as tall as Ronon, but wider in the girth. His face was fleshy and shook as he spoke, obviously a product of the 'finer things' that he had boasted so much about earlier. His clothing spoke of a man well used to manual work, in that there were no fine cloths, just functional and well worn leather and cottons. He stood poised and alert in the doorway as he savoured the cigarette and Sheppard could see that he would not be an easy man to catch unawares; his eyes were constantly on the move, never still.

The cigarette finished, it was ground out against the side wall of the silo and Stower took a final look around before returning inside and once more closing the shield behind him. He wandered over to the desk that was positioned against one of the cell walls and sat in the wooden swivel chair placed under its scratched surface. The chair groaned in protest at the man's weight, but Stower was oblivious to the protestations of the frame as he twisted the chair under the desk. As he stooped to pick up a sheaf of papers that lay on the desk top, Sheppard heard the familiar sound of the radio com-link buzzing for attention. Stower pulled the small radio from his jacket pocket and pushed the send/receive button on its side. There was a pause as the voice on the other end spoke and then,

"Yes,"

"Ah, well I'm glad you're early, good.."

"No, no problems that we couldn't handle..."

"Not exactly ..there was an unfortunate incident with Stavin.."

"No, nothing that I haven't already dealt with…"

"Oh yes, he's still alive…stubborn character this one…."

"Yes….fine.."

Stower turned the radio off, replaced it in the pocket of his jacket and turned to face Sheppard, "I'm lucky, my client has arrived early and he will be here shortly. He wishes to check personally that his 'package' is still transportable.." Stower laughed as he returned to sit back into the wooden chair. "He was quite concerned that you were not in the most, how shall we put it, desirable condition, but then he had to concede that at least you are still alive, which was his only real stipulation in the agreement."

Sheppard closed his eyes as he thought once more about the identity of his nemesis. Stower was certainly not going to be forthcoming with the name, so Sheppard knew that he was going to have to wait until the door opened to find out who was willing to pay so much for his head.

Stower shifted uncomfortably in the office chair, his bulk not sitting comfortably within the confines of its small frame. He shuffled idly through the papers that sat strewn haphazardly on the wooden surface and Sheppard could see that he wasn't a man used to sitting idle as he tapped his fingers on the table top whilst reading. Sheppard felt another tremor course through his body and he tried to pull the blanket further up his cold body. The fibres from the blanket were loose and as the cover brushed against his face, he felt the dust that the movement caused filter into his nose and mouth. As the dust hit his chest, he could feel the irritation building and he knew that he was not going to be able to prevent himself from coughing.

When it came, he was wholly unprepared.

The cough racked through his body and he felt the warm slew of blood leech into his mouth and spatter against the blanket under his face. The deep burning that the cough generated side swiped his senses and he once more felt himself losing control.

His vision darkened, with only tightly swirling patterns of light pricking tiny holes in the all consuming darkness. His hearing disappeared, the roaring of his blood rendering him oblivious to any other sound around him. He didn't notice Stower head for the door or press the control device for the shield. He didn't see the doorway reappear or the figure who stood silhouetted in the half light, and it wasn't until he opened his tear filled eyes, his arms wrapped tightly around his tortured chest, that he saw the blurred figure for himself.

There was something about the silhouette that prodded at Sheppard's mind, but the pain dancing flamenco behind his eyes inhibited his concentration. What was it that was so familiar. What was it about the outline of the man in front of him.

Then it hit him.

The long black coat that swept the floor as the figure moved into the room and the white stained skin of the hands that hung loosely at his sides.

Sheppard's eyes moved up slowly to look into the eyes of the 'client' and he knew then and there that there was no hope left, he knew he was dead.

The face smiled at him, black teeth glimmering,

"Hello Colonel Sheppard, so good to see you again"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight **

****

Teyla felt a cold shiver pass down her spine, and it had nothing to do with the damp chill in the late evening air. The black shadow that drifted lazily over the deep recesses of her mind took her back to the very first time that she had sensed the Wraith, a time of joy in her life, a time of happiness when her father had still lived.

She remembered the first time that it had happened.

She had been so young and so full of a wild, childish exuberance. She had been running through the woods with her best friends, her wild, un-brushed red hair streaming back across her shoulders as she jumped across moss covered fallen trees, laughing as they had pretended to run and hide from an unseen enemy. Their lives were full then; they had wanted for nothing that couldn't be provided by trade, or by hunting and fishing in the surrounding forests and streams. Her father, being head of the community, had had deep responsibilities to fulfil with regard to providing for his people and he had fulfilled those duties well, they had seldom wanted for anything.

Teyla had grown up with a deep love and respect for her father. He had been a fair and honourable man; a man who had shouldered the responsibilities of his position with ease. Teyla had used to watch sometimes in awe as he negotiated for supplies with outsiders. The subtlety and grace that he employed during his negotiations had always seemed to leave his suppliers thinking that they had ended up with the better end of the deal, but Teyla had seen more than they did; she had seen the tricks that her father employed and the games that he played, and she remembered smiling as he shook hands on those deals. Her father had always encouraged her to listen in to his trade negotiations; she had always seen it as a privilege, but he had seen it as grooming her for her future role as leader of her people. He had let her follow him as he went about his everyday role in the camps, settling disputes and laughing with his people.

As Teyla had ran through the woods all those years ago, the laughter had once more broken through her lips and she remembered turning to pull faces at those trailing behind her as she pulled ahead of them over the dry forest floor. She remembered the shouts of her friends as they had fallen behind, and she remembered the forest canopy becoming darker as she travelled further into the depths of the dense tree line. It was hard to pinpoint the exact moment that she had become aware that something changed, but she remembered distinctly the feeling that had begun to creep into her thoughts, the darkness that had had nothing to do with the setting sun. She could remember slowing down and coming to a stop as the dark fingers of fear plucked at her thoughts and she remembered her inability to comprehend why she should feel that way in such familiar surroundings. It hadn't been until she had heard the unfamiliar droning whine above the trees that she had grown concerned for the safety of her friends and her father back in the camps and she had turned back towards the clearing where her people had made camp. She hadn't even reached the camp before she had heard the screams of panic and terror flooding her senses, and she had been suddenly afraid to run through the last of the trees and out into the open. The screeching whine above her had made her fall to the ground in terror, she had never heard such a noise before and it was then that she had also seen for the first time the swirling figures in the trees, the ghostly bodies that broke up and reforming as they drifted around her. She had run through the tree line into the clearing, her eyes searching for familiar figures. A screeching noises had drawn her attention up into the air and she had seen the darts for the first time, their long noses sweeping through the air as they started strafing runs along the paths through the village. Teyla could still remember the look of terror on the faces of the villagers who were caught in the beam to vanish into thin air, and she remembered her fathers face so vividly as he watched the attack, his eyes full of sadness and helplessness…

"Teyla!" Rodney's voice ploughed into her reverie, and she shook her head slightly as she once more focused on the scientist's concerned features.

"I am sorry, I…"

"You said Michael," Ronon stated matter of factly, "Are you sure Teyla, could you be wrong?"

"I am sure," Teyla's focus was once more on the situation at hand, "He is here, I felt his presence ..it is a little different, but it is definitely him.."

"And what would 'bug boy' be doing here, that is, unless he's got another lab here somewhere!... Oh god, that's it, he's building another bug army here, he must be..!"

"Rodney, the life sign detector only has one signal, he would not be alone if he were building his army here, he would be accompanied by his.. 'soldiers'.."

"What," Rodney looked down once more at the LSD in his hand, "oh, right yes, only one hit registering on the sensor, but if he's alone then what's he doing here?!"

"It's got to be Sheppard." Ronon stared at the shocked expressions on his team mates faces, "Think about it. Why else would Sheppard have been attacked, why else would Michael be here, there can be no other reason, it's too much of a coincidence."

"What, revenge!.. are you joking. Why risk coming here on your own just for revenge! I know Sheppard can be as annoying as hell, but what possible reason would Michael have for ……oh, oh yes, "Rodney suddenly 'got' where Ronon was coming from, "the retrovirus, he's still pissed at Sheppard for that isn't he, well almost as much as he was at Beckett anyway…. and then there's the whole 'lets destroy Michael's lab' thing as well.…so yes, I suppose he has got a few reasons to not like Sheppard very much at the moment, but …that means he's probably here for us as well! Oh great, maybe we're next on the list…"

"Rodney, we have no way of knowing why Michael has come here, but we do know that we need to help the Colonel, so we should concentrate our energies on that at the moment."

"Teyla's right, if Michael is here for Sheppard, then we need to get him out of there…" Ronon pointed towards the silo that they had been watching, "We need to go now, before company arrives…"

"Oh, I think we're a bit too late for that already, look!" Rodney pointed towards the dark shadows that loomed across the dockside.

As they looked across the darkened loading bays where they were hidden, towards the towering grain storage silos, they got their first glimpse of the object of their discussion.

The long black coat that swept the floor was instantly recognisable as Wraith, as was the light pigmented skin, but it was the short spiked white hair that erupted over the high collar of the coat that immediately identified the figure as that of Michael, his hair having never grown back fully since the retrovirus changed him originally.

As they watched from their concealed spot, they could follow the imposing figure as he walked along the dockside, glancing about him as he proceeded, seemingly oblivious to the three sets of eyes that watched him from the shadows. As he approached the silo that they had been observing, he removed a small black box from his pocket and pressed the key pad. Taking a final look around him and satisfied that he was alone, he moved forwards through the now open doorway and disappeared, the door vanishing as the shield was once more initialised.

"Well that pretty much settles it doesn't it, he's here for Sheppard, he has to be. What do we do now?"

"We go over there," Ronon pointed to the hidden doorway, "and 'you' take a look at that door mechanism and see about getting us inside, that's what we do now."

"What with 'bug boy' inside there!! Are you joking!" Rodney took one look at Ronon's impassive face and knew the answer already, "you're not joking are you, you really expect me to go over there and find a way in don't you!"

"I do. Sheppard needs us McKay, we aren't going to let him down!"

"Right," Rodney glanced nervously down at the scanner, "so, do you have any more hidden weapons that you would care to share with us, or are we going to attack the place with two knives and a life signs detector!"

"Rodney, we are not going to attack anything yet," she looked towards Ronon, who merely shrugged, "we need to find out if the doorway is penetrable at all, if you can actually find the lock or disable the shield mechanism."

"Right. And if Michael comes out, what then!"

"Then we will do whatever it takes to make sure that he doesn't get any further, are you ready McKay?" Ronon's dead pan answer knocked back any further argument that Rodney had prepared and he found himself simply nodding nervously at the Satedan as they left their hiding place and headed across the moonlit loading bays towards the silo.

Ronon took point as they crept closer to their target, his eyes never still as he stayed alert to the possibility that Michael hadn't actually come alone and they could be pounced on at any moment. It was only the fact that Rodney was watching the LSD intently that gave then a feeling of safety meagre enough to allow them to continue. Teyla was deeply troubled by the fact that she could still 'sense' Michael as they proceeded. The black shroud of the Wraith presence that had settled over her mind was un-nerving and she found it harder to concentrate, especially knowing as she was sure she did, that her friend was in there with him, injured and alone. She felt the cold hand of dread on her heart as she considered the fact that Michael must have come alone to this world and her heart sank even further as she considered how much hatred it must have taken for that to happen; the possible ramifications for John were becoming worse by the minute.

"McKay, do your stuff." Ronon turned to Rodney as they reached the silo's towering bulk without incident, "I'll keep watch. Teyla watch his back." Teyla nodded as Ronon turned away, his back to the pair, his eyes now fixed on the shadow shrouded areas around them. Rodney nodded briefly to Teyla as he started to study the wall next to the site of the doorway. As he held the scanner up to the wall, the screen lit up and he had to stifle an exclamation of surprise.

"Well of course it had to be I suppose, "he whispered, "it's Wraith shielding technology. It seems that our friend in there has a deeper relationship with 'Michael' than we could have thought.."

"Can you break it McKay." Ronon hissed over his shoulder as he continued to watch the surrounding area for trouble.

"Yes, I believe that I can, with a little time and the right frequency…."

"Ronon, we cannot just open the door, we do not know what we will find inside. We know only that Michael is in there with another man, but we still do not know for sure that Colonel Sheppard is inside." Teyla needed to be cautious, it was in her nature to assess the situation before blindly charging in, unlike Ronon, who was used to using fists and blaster first and asking questions later.

"I think we do, look…" Ronon pointed to the ground in front of the door and there was no mistaking the trail of blood spatters that led towards and then stopped in front of the now shielded doorway.

"Ronon, we cannot just go in there blindly, I believe that Colonel Sheppard would want us to wait until the right opportunity arises, then we can be sure that we are ready for them, we will have the element of surprise."

"I suppose." Ronon reluctantly had to agree with Teyla, " they don't know that we're here; if we act quickly enough, it would be two of them against three of us!"

"Er, hello… a Wraith and an unidentified man who managed to attack Sheppard against the two of you and me!! I'm not sure that your logic quite pans out ..I make that officially two against two, but who am I to argue battle plans with Conon the 'destroyer'

"So, we wait then?" Ronon looked from Teyla to Rodney's faces and they both nodded their agreement

"Yes," Rodney's voice betrayed the concern that they all felt, "we wait, and god help us…and Sheppard"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine **

Michael's face darkened as he took in the condition of the man lying on the low bed in front of him and he swept around to face Stower again.

"You said nothing about this!" he pointed at Sheppard's shivering body, "we had an agreement and that agreement stipulated that the 'package' had to be alive and in good condition, this…" he pointed again towards Sheppard, "is not in 'good' condition as far as my interpretation of the word goes. Why was this allowed to happen! You assured me that he was ready for transportation!"

"He 'is' ready for transportation.." Stower raised his chin in defiance," and as to his condition, the stipulation was 'alive' and he is still 'alive'..as far as I can see!"

"Stower, our arrangement has suited us both so far, but I warn you now…don't cross me, you will regret it.." Michael shifted his attention back to Sheppard, his eyes narrowing as he took in the sweat covered face and the blood stains that were still glistening as they soaked into the filthy covers of the bed. He indicated to Stower to unlock the cell door, then slowly entered the cell. He crouched down at the side of the bed and reached a clawed hand out towards the sticky black shirt that clung to Sheppard's thin frame. He lifted the shirt up, his eyes never leaving Sheppard's face, the fabric catching on Sheppard's skin as the drying blood cracked and pulled, and he took in the blood soaked bandages and dressings that were covering the wounds on Sheppard's chest and back.

"Who did this! You mentioned an incident with Stavin earlier did you not?" he turned and regarded the bounty hunter, his eyes narrowing, "I had assumed that you had control over your employee's Stower, obviously you do not have the level of control that you thought you did!"

Stower drew level with the Wraith as he stood at the bedside, "Stavin disobeyed my orders and he paid for that insubordination with his life, thanks to the Lantean."

"Hmm, well he deserved to die, I needed the Colonel to be stronger than this, he will need all of his strength if he is to survive the process."

"Process, what do you mean?" Stower looked at the Wraith in confusion, "I had assumed from our earlier conversation that this was simply a case of retribution for past sins, or do you need further 'subjects' for your 'research'..?"

"The subjects that you have supplied in the past have served their purpose, but I have something more, shall we say, 'in keeping' planned for this one…" Michael smiled down at Sheppard, and then turned away from the bed, "I will need to relocate him to my transport as soon as possible, I assume that you have arranged to have the route cleared for me as I requested..?"

"Of course, the usual arrangements have been employed, there will be an unfortunate incident that will mean that the streets in that area will have to be cleared within the half hour, it has all been arranged as I said…"

"Good, I will need to be ready to depart when….." he stopped as a sudden noise from the direction of the bed captured his attention.

Sheppard's voice was weakened by the pain, his lips stained by the blood that had invaded his throat, but he was determined and struggled to make himself heard.. "N-nice to see you again t-too, Michael…aaagh.." The pain bit hard and angrily as he struggled to push himself onto his side. He would be damned if he was going to lie still whilst the two of them talked about his demise with him laying quietly beside them, "D-did you come alone, or d-did you …aah.. did you b-bring some of the k-kids along…."

"Ah, ..how nice to see that you haven't lost your sense of humour Colonel." Michael walked over to the side of the low bed and smiled grimly down at Sheppard's suffering. "You seem to have injured yourself, I do hope its nothing too serious, I would hate for our reunion to be delayed due to ill health…."

"J-just a s-scratch..I hope you d-didn't go to too much trouble, you know how m-much I dislike s-surprise p-parties…" He wrapped his arms around his chest and closed his eyes as a wave of burning pain drifted through his shoulders and down his back; talking too much definitely wasn't a good idea at the moment.

"Colonel, we always seem to meet at the most inconvenient times, but then again, life isn't always fair is it, I mean…look at me! I had such a good life before meeting your kind, I had a successful career as a scientist, I had a family……" his eyes turned away as he spoke, unwilling to let Sheppard see the distress that that particular subject brought.. "and then I met you and your 'scientists'!" he spat the words out.. "and all of that was taken away from me. Did you really imagine that I would disappear conveniently after everything that happened, like a good boy. Did you really think that I would forget what I lost because of your inept meddling! I had so much.. and now I have nothing, apart from a body that repulses my own kind and yours both!"

"W-we did what we thought w-was right…" Sheppard hunched his body, trying to find some relief, but the pain was deep and unforgiving.

"Right!, What part of turning me into one of your kind could you ever consider as 'RIGHT', explain to me, …I need to understand!" Michael was incensed and he leant over Sheppard as he spoke, his mouth wet with spittle as he waited for the answer.

"We needed t-to protect ourselves. W-we had l-lost too m-many people…aah..too many.."

"And you think that we had not suffered losses also. You are not the only species in this galaxy Colonel, but you think that you are the only ones who are justified in what you do!" The smile returned to Michael's face and he rose back up onto his feet from his position next to Sheppard's side, "that is why you are going to experience the rest of your life as one of my 'soldiers', so that you can experience the anguish of one whose life has been changed irreparably; one who cannot live amongst either side without being loathed by both."

Sheppard looked up in horror at the Wraith, his brain struggling to comprehend the words that he had just heard, "What d-do you mean…"

"I have been fortunate Colonel. Thanks to my friend here, I have had an unlimited supply of test subjects for my genetic research for some time, but I have come to a point in my experimentation where I need to 'branch out'. I have developed my 'army' to follow my orders without question, and they will; but I need to go further…" again Michael smiled at Sheppard's shocked expression, "I am planning to change the genetic coding in your body to incorporate both my subservient 'soldier' gene as well as your Ancient gene….the perfect hybrid, ..and one that will enable me to activate Ancient technology and ships, but who will remain faithful and loyal to my command."

"I…" Sheppard struggled to speak, his voice weakened not only by the shock that his body was now suffering, but also by the slow realisation of what Michael was actually suggesting.. "I w-won't do it…"

"You won't have a choice," Michael leered at the suffering soldier, " the genetic treatment should actually leave a large proportion of your body unchanged, however there will be the inevitable…additions. Just imagine Colonel, you will be the first 'trial' subject, just as I was. You will get to experience life anew, just as I did…what more could a person ask for….No, you don't agree?" Sarcasm dripped from Michael's voice as he watched the turmoil that Sheppard was suffering and he laughed… "You Colonel Sheppard, will be the first of my 'new' soldiers, soldiers with great strength, but with the ability to operate the Ancient ships and technology, you should be honoured……Stower, I need to ensure that he survives the journey ahead, he seems very…..weak." Michael had turned back to the stocky bounty hunter, his attention now fixed firmly on the travel arrangements; Sheppard played no part in those arrangements and was therefore now ignored, his body seen as too weak to pose any threat.

Sheppard lay on the rough blankets, his mind whirling with the shock of what Michael had just told him. He had already been through one transformation in his life and he didn't relish the idea of another one; he'd rather die trying to escape than end up as a subservient…bug thing. As he watched Stower explaining to Michael the details of the distraction he had planned, Sheppard came to a decision; he needed to find a weapon, anything that he could use to escape. He had seen where Stower kept the black control box, and he knew the code to open the door, he'd watched Stower punch it in several times now, all he needed was an opportunity. He knew that the weakness that pervaded his body was becoming intolerable and he was well aware that he wouldn't be able to move for very much longer as his body pumped more and more of his precious blood into the already saturated blanket. As he watched Michael deeply engrossed in his conversation with Stower, he moved.

Lifting his head off the blanket, he paused as vertigo punched him between the eyes and his head span. Once more the water that he had swallowed earlier threatened to revisit him, but once more he swallowed hard against the threatening bile and his stomach finally settled.

He looked around him, his eyes desperately searching for anything that he could use as a weapon. It was as his eyes roamed the room that he suddenly thought about Stower's battle to drag him across the yard outside and the way he had been deposited on the bed earlier. Stower had left his com unit in place knowing that it was inoperable with the jamming signal that he was using, but he had also left the small throwing knife in place as well, the hidden one strapped to Sheppard's lower leg: Stower had been both lazy and arrogant, he had assumed quite wrongly that Sheppard was unarmed and he hadn't bothered to check otherwise. Now, as Sheppard pulled his knees up to his chest in a gesture of increased agony, his hand drifted down to his booted ankle and he felt the small knife tucked away out of sight, and he breathed a sigh of relief for the first time in the last few hours.

Michael heard the deep sigh and assuming that it was a moan of pain, turned back towards Sheppard, "I will be very disappointed if you die in transit Colonel. There is so much that I need to share with you…. The pain of transformation, the anger that you will feel as you watch your body transform into something abhorrent to you, such 'wonderful' moments for you to look forward to, don't you think?"

"Go t'hell…." Sheppard closed his eyes as another wave of pain washed through his weakening frame. The left side of his chest was now almost totally unresponsive and he hissed as he tried to pull in yet another breath that didn't want to come. Each breath felt like fire travelling through his lungs and upper chest and as he struggled to pull the air down, he clutched at the blanket at his sides, his fingers digging into the dirty material as he gasped. Michael frowned at the sight and walked back to the bed, his eyes fixated on Sheppard's desperate struggle to keep himself alive.

"Stower, how long as he been like this?"

"Hmm…" Stower looked up at the Wraith's question, "He was like that when I found him, so…probably about two hours now..why"

"He's drowning, his lungs are filling with blood and that's no good to me… We need to leave now!"

"But we will be seen if we go now…"

"I saw nobody on my way here Stower, it's a risk that I am willing to take… his other arm, take it." Michael indicated towards the arm that Sheppard had wrapped around his chest, "I should at least be able to prevent him from dying if I can get him back to the research base…if I leave now" Michael pulled Sheppard up onto his feet and hooked his right arm over his shoulder, indicating to Stower to take the other side. As they moved towards the doorway, Sheppard gasped in pain, his eyes glazing as he struggled with the agony that the sudden movement brought on. Stower picked up the black box from the table as they passed and awkwardly pressed the sequence of glyphs that opened the sheilding over the door.

But as they headed towards the now open doorway, Sheppard suddenly collapsed, his legs buckled under his body and his eyes closed.

Their attention now taken by Sheppard's sudden deterioration, neither of the men saw the tall figure that abruptly appeared in the darkened doorway, or the slight figure of the woman behind him; and it wasn't until the knife plunged deeply into his bulbous neck that Stower noticed anything at all.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

The chill night air penetrated his thin jacket and Rodney pulled it tightly around his body, his teeth chattering as he stood by the silo waiting.

Ronon had descended into a sullen silence after it had been agreed that attacking the silo was probably not the best course of action without knowing what would greet them on the other side of the door. His eyes swept the shadows, but he remained silent, his thoughts focused on the drama that was unfolding inside the impenetrable building beside them.

Teyla watched the darkness intently, still not sure that they were indeed alone, the shadows that had touched her mind still persisted, stirring up again the memories that she would have preferred to remain buried. She knew how dangerous Michael could be, she had been so close to becoming one of his victims herself just a few short months ago when he had tried to use her as a food source for his bug army and she shuddered at the memory.

Ronon noticed her shiver and raised an eyebrow at her, "You cold Teyla?" His monotone question sounded too loud in the still night air.

"I am fine, it is…nothing." She lowered her eyes, not wanting the Satedan to see the anxiety that she knew was evident in her features.

"Don't look fine. Is it Michael?" He crossed his arms and waited as she thought about an answer.

"I am.. disturbed by his closeness, yes. He is a clever and ruthless 'man' Ronon and I fear greatly for Colonel Sheppard's safety even more now knowing that he is involved."

"We all know what he's capable of, but we can't let him win, that's all." Ronon's over simplified view on the situation irritated Rodney, who up until that point had contented himself with keeping a guarded watch on the LSD for unexpected company.

"Simple!" Rodney almost exploded with indignation, "What part of 'Psychotic Wraith on a mission' could you possibly define as 'simple'!"

"He's just another Wraith McKay and he'll die just like all the rest of them!" Ronon shrugged; he had lived his life along that simple premise for a very long time before he had teamed up with the Atlantis expedition. He had had one basic mission in life, to protect himself from the Wraith at all costs and it was a mission that he had excelled at.

"Ronon, Michael cannot be classed as 'just another Wraith', he is something very much worse. He has a purpose that we have instilled in him. We made him what he is now, we created this monster." Teyla knew that that wasn't strictly true, but she was convinced that they should not have meddled in Michael's life, they should have either killed him or left him be; to have attempted to change an inhuman being into a human being was never going to end well.

"No Teyla, whatever was done to him, he is now, and has always been 'just' a Wraith. He's a very pissed off Wraith, but when it comes down to it, he's got the same basic needs as all the rest, and for that he's going to die. I knew all along that we should have left well alone, that we shouldn't have messed with him, but nobody wanted to listen to me then, so listen to me now….he will die for what he tried to do to you before and for his involvement in the attack on Sheppard now. "

"And again I ask, what do you intend to use to achieve this, well that is, apart from the toy knives, Hm?" Rodney stood with his arms folded, doubt written across his features.

"Surprise….they won't expect anyone to be here, so we overwhelm them before they have a chance to react."

"And what about if Sheppard comes out first, what then!"

"I believe that the likelihood of that happening is very remote Rodney," Teyla once again found herself in the role of arbitrator, "we know that he is injured, so it is more than likely that he will have to be assisted by whoever is holding him inside, so if and when they decide to come out, they will hopefully be preoccupied…"

"Michael isn't here for his health McKay, he's here for Sheppard, so unless they intend on keeping him inside indefinitely, which I very much doubt, they'll come out eventually, and when they do, we'll be ready." Ronon had already started to turn back to his position of watch as he spoke, the conversation finished as far as he was concerned.

Teyla agreed in principle with Ronon's misgivings about what had been done to Michael, but having spent years of her own life watching those that she cared about taken, like cattle to the slaughter, she couldn't hold her hand on her heart and say that she had been totally against the experiment. Dr Beckett had been so sure that what they were doing was right, he had been so passionately convinced that they could change the course of the war against the Wraith- but in the end, he had been wrong and now they were having to deal with one of the consequences of that error in judgement. Teyla was a pacifist at heart first and foremost and tried to avoid violence if at all possible, especially having been brought up living under the shadow of the Wraith most of her life, when the threat of death and horror had never been more than a breath away, but the thought of what may have been done to John clouded her normally dispassionate mind and she also now found herself wanting to punish Michael for his actions, not just against her, but for all of the deaths that he was responsible for.

"Whoa, whoa…someone's on the move..the shield's being deactivated!" Rodney looked up from the scanner, his eyes bright with concern, "Ronon, I hope you're ready, 'cause we're about to have company!"

Ronon moved into the centre of the hidden doorway and Teyla positioned herself slightly behind and to his left as they waited poised.

Rodney had moved to Ronon's right, keeping the Satedan between himself and the doorway, his lack of weaponry forcing him stay at the rear.

The doorway reappeared as the shield dropped away. Ronon stood firmly, directly in front of the opening, his knife held underhanded and ready.

The first thing that hit the Satedan's eyes as the opening appeared was the sight of his CO being supported on both sides by Michael and the other now vaguely familiar man. His face was creased with pain and his eyes glazed as he stood wavering on the threshold of the building. Ronon stared straight into his friend's eyes, and in the split second between the door appearing and Ronon stepping forward, Sheppard looked straight back, hope touching his features. Weather intentionally, or because the pain coursing through his body became overwhelming, Sheppard suddenly dropped down. The unexpected transfer of weight distracted the two figures on either side of him and for the briefest of moments their attention was drawn down and away from the door; and that was all the time that Ronon needed, he struck.

Stower fell first, his life pulsing away as he brought his hands up to the gaping wound in his throat, feeling the warmth of the sticky blood spurting through his fingers. He tried to scream, but his voice had been taken away by the knife as it pierced the soft flesh under his chin.

Ronon had leapt forwards the moment he had struck the bounty hunter, his body twisting to the side, pushing himself past and behind Michael and over the body of his fallen friend. As he passed him, Ronon lunged at the Wraith, his knife already painted red with the blood from his first victim. Michael moved to the side, avoiding the flash of steel as it flew at his face, dropping under the swing and punching into Ronon's body as he passed. The blow pushed Ronon backwards into the room, his leg striking against the wooden chair beside the desk, and he landed on the floor. Michael glanced down at Sheppard's body, which lay motionless by the door, before moving into the room himself, advancing on Ronon as he struggled to untangle himself from the legs of the wooden chair. As Michael moved forwards, he caught the sudden flash of movement to his side and turned back towards the door once more, catching Teyla with a glancing blow as she ran at him knife raised. The knife dropping to the floor as she landed hard against the wall and Michael smiled as she lay against the dirty wall of the silo, shaking her head, stunned from the impact. He moved towards her once more, his eyes fixed on her face. As he passed beside Sheppard's body, he failed to see the shaking hand that snaked down slowly towards the hidden knife, his attention so firmly fixed as it was on both Teyla and Ronon. As he advanced towards the downed pair, he didn't even consider Sheppard as a threat; as far as Michael was concerned, Sheppard was now too far gone to be of any use to him as a test subject and his usefulness was therefore at an end; he was dying on the floor of the office and didn't warrant any further attention.

Sheppard though had other plans. Feeling the knife in his hand had given him a huge surge of adrenalin and as he felt it flooding through his body, he struggled to his feet behind the advancing Wraith.

As he stood swaying, the knife shaking in his hand, he composed himself, biting back at the pain that threatened to engulf him at any moment. His hands shook, but he knew that he had to continue and he took one step after another towards the Wraiths unprotected back.

Ronon could see Sheppard's slowly advancing form and his eyes grew wide as he took in for the first time the full extend oh his friends injuries. He could see the blood dripping down onto the floor from Sheppard's shirt and the sweat that dribbled down the dirt encrusted face.

Michael saw the change in Ronon's expression, but he turned too slowly and was unprepared for the depth of passion that pushed the knife deeply into his side, then again. He turned around fully and looked into the eyes of his attacker; and Sheppard stared back at him, the defiance burning in his red rimmed eyes.

"You are full of surprises Colonel Sheppard…" Michael hissed in pain and his hand drifted to the bloody wounds in his side. "I had written you off as weak and of no more use to me…it appears I was mistaken in that assumption, yet again."

Rodney ran into the room just as Sheppard struck Michael with the weapon and he also took in for the first time the dire condition of his friend as he stood eyeball to eyeball with the Wraith. Teyla struggled to stand up form her prone position on the floor, picking up the knife that she had dropped and advancing towards the scenario that was playing out in the centre of the room. Ronon also needed no prompting as he struggled up onto his feet, his knife once more poised to strike. Michael looked from one face to another, and realised that he was beaten. As he looked at each of the team in turn, he knew that he had nothing to lose; so decision made, he chose the weakest link in the chain and launched himself at Rodney. The scientist was unarmed, so had no way to defend himself as the Wraith thundered towards him. Michael barrelled past Rodney's body, knocking him sideways, and ran straight at the doorway and into the black of the night outside. Ronon started forwards, but was stopped as Teyla cried out in alarm. As he turned back, he saw Sheppard drop, landing firstly on his knees and then gracefully, like a willow caught in a autumn breeze, dropping slowly to the side to land on the floor.

"John!" Teyla ran to his side and dropped to her knees, hesitant to touch him, hesitant in case he had gone. "John, can you hear me.."

"Is he.." Rodney had recovered his composure and now moved towards where Sheppard lay. "Is he, alive.."

"John, can you hear me, it is Teyla.." Teyla reached a shaking hand out and touched the very still and sweat saturated neck of her friend. As she searched, her fingers brushed against a minute, shallow movement and her heart leapt.

"He is alive Rodney, I feel a pulse. It is very weak, but it is there" She placed a hand on his face, and saw a glimmer of movement as his eyes twitched under their heavy lids, "John, if you can hear me, Michael has gone and," she looked over at the very still body of the Stower, "the other man is dead."

"What did they do to him for god's sake!" Rodney now stood beside Teyla, his face betraying his concern as his eyes travelled down Sheppard's body, pausing on the red pool that was growing under his body, "Oh no, Teyla…" he pointed at the spreading stain and Teyla's eyes widened as she saw the object of Rodney's concern.

"Ronon, quickly, help me turn him.." She grabbed Sheppard's shirt and pulled the fabric up to expose his ribcage and the wounds that punched through either side of his chest. Her breath caught in her throat as she lifted the blood drenched dressings that had pulled way from John's sweat soaked skin to expose the horrific damage underneath. Rodney couldn't look and turned away, his stomach lurching at the sight. Ronon moved closer and caught Teyla's eye, nodding to her in reassurance as he grasped Sheppard's shoulder and they turned him gently onto his side. The exit wound on his back was deeper and angrier than the entry wound under his arm, but it was the bubbling sounds that emanated from John's body that concerned Teyla more than the wounds themselves; she was very aware that time was running out for her friend and that if they were going to attempt to save his life they would have to act very quickly.

"We have to leave this place Ronon, we do not know who we can trust now, especially as we know that the security forces are involved in whatever happened here. We have to get back to the gate." Teyla looked up from her position beside Sheppard's body, her face fraught with concern, "We need to get John back to Atlantis, I- I am very worried Ronon, his wounds are…."

"I know Teyla, his lung is punctured. I've seen it before- that sound. I've seen what happens."

"Help me!" Teyla indicated for Ronon to move to the opposite side of Sheppard's body and between them they pulled him up onto his feet, "Rodney, we will manage the Colonel if you can make us aware of any 'company' that comes our way."

"What about Michael!" Rodney didn't want the answer to that question, but he needed to know.

"I no longer sense him. If he is here, he is already dead…either that or he has left already."

"Teyla, we gotta go.." Ronon could feel the shudders that passed through Sheppard's body as he rested against the Satedan's tall frame and he knew by the shallow staccato breaths that Sheppard wasn't getting enough air.

"Rodney, please stay ahead of us and when we reach the gate, we need to get through as quickly as possible."

"Yes, yes..I'll be ready," his eyes fixed on the trembling body of his friend and he nodded stiffly, "He's still with us now, so he'd bloody well better still be with us when we get to the gate…Do you hear me Sheppard! Keep your scrawny hide alive until then!"

The briefest and smallest smiles touched Sheppard's lips, and his eyes cracked open slightly at Rodney's words, "s-still here, n-not l-leaving yet…" the whispered words stirred the group to move and as Ronon and Teyla shouldered the weight of their CO and headed towards the door, Rodney took one final look behind him at the room were he had been held; the cell with its blood soaked mattress and the dirty walls and floor and he shook his head then turned to follow the trio as they disappeared through the door.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

The event horizon disappeared behind the group and they slowly descended the steps that led down into the departure area of the control room. The marines had already detached their P90's and were now standing awaiting fresh orders from Major Lorne. The mission had been a relative success and Dr Weir had been able to avert the diplomatic 'faux pas' before it had kicked off into a major incident; she had a distinct knack for pacification and it showed.

"Dr Weir if you will excuse us, we'll go get ready to debrief before Colonel Sheppard arrives back?"

"Yes, of course Major, and thank you for the 'escort," a smile touched her face as she turned towards the waiting soldiers, "I'm just glad that we were able to diffuse the situation. I didn't like having to leave the city with both its senior staff absent, but needs must and, as it turns out, it was worth it for the increased quota that we were able to negotiate."

"Yes it was, if you will excuse us," Lorne indicated to the group of marines on the steps. Elizabeth glanced over at the marines who were waiting patiently for their orders and nodded her thanks to them. As the group left the control room and headed off, Elizabeth nodded at Chuck as he sat at the main control console.

"Have we heard from Colonel Sheppard yet Chuck?"

"No, nothing as yet Dr Weir. They aren't actually due to check in for another hour yet though."

"That's fine - I wouldn't want to miss out on their update, I'm sure they are relishing the opportunity to polish up their individual negotiating skills" the wry smile that touched her lips as she spoke made Chuck smile back. She was a well liked member of the expedition; fair as a boss and a skilled negotiator. She knew that she wasn't well liked by all of the military contingent of the Atlantis expedition, but by her staff and by her close friends, she was admired and trusted.

"Yes Dr Weir, I'm sure they are…"

"Let me know as soon as they check in please, I'll be in my office." She left the technician and ascended the steps that led to the haven that was her office, with its commanding view over the gate room and control area. As she reached the doorway, the distinctive sound of the gate glyphs activating sounded and she turned back towards the sprawling embarkation area.

"Unscheduled gate activation, I'm receiving an IDC, ..its Dr McKay!" Chuck looked up in surprise at Elizabeth, but she didn't hesitate,

"Open the shield, let them through!" Elizabeth ran down the steps, stopped at the bottom and stood and waited for the arrival of the team. They weren't due back for a while, but she could already feel the hand of fear touch her heart again as she waited for the gate to solidify and the first of the group to come through. She had been in this position many times before, but she still couldn't keep the anxiety at bay. It was probably nothing to worry about; maybe the negotiations had finished earlier than expected and the team decided to return ahead of schedule…

The shield dropped away and for a moment nothing happened and she looked across at Chuck as he also stood slightly, waiting for the appearance of the first arrival. The moment of calm was fractured as Rodney broke through the shimmering circle, his face contorted in concern, his attention firmly fixed on those travelling behind him.

"Rodney, what's going on, you weren't due to check in for another……" her question caught in her throat as the rest of the team followed behind him and her hand raising to her mouth in shock as they appeared slowly, the gate shutting down behind them. Ronon and Teyla staggered down the steps, the limp figure of their CO strung between them, his body lifeless.

"Elizabeth, we need a medical team immediately. Colonel Sheppard has been terribly injured!" Teryla's face portrayed the intensity of her emotions, but her voice remained calm as they carried Sheppard down the last of the steps and placed him gently down onto the floor of the gateroom; Chuck didn't need to be asked, he was already calling for a medical team, his face as drawn as Elizabeth's.

Elizabeth hesitated for the briefest moment before approaching the group; she needed to compose herself before facing the situation that was now in front of her. As she made her way across the floor towards them, she could feel her heart racing as she caught sight of the red stain that was now painted the floor under Sheppard's too still body.

"What happened! It was supposed to be a safe trade negotiation. There shouldn't have been any risk, that's why we agreed to let them confiscate our weapons!"

"It was not the traders Elizabeth.." Teyla's eyes dipped as she looked up from her position beside Sheppard's trembling body, "It was…Michael."

Elizabeth's eyes grew wide at Teyla's admission "Michael, what do you mean, what was he doing there!?"

"We are not sure of the details, but we are fairly sure, base on the imformation that we could glean, that the meetings were set up in an attempt to gain access to Colonel Sheppard and that the security council themselves were involved. We believe that Michael was contacted by somebody within the security division, but as yet we have no proof of that. Elizabeth, we came back as quickly as we could…I only hope we were soon enough." Teyla looked across at Ronon as she spoke and his eyes spoke of his anger and frustration, their hooded lids lowered as he stared at Sheppard's limp form.

"Elizabeth, all you need to know is that 'bug boy' was undoubtedly behind the whole thing and if we hadn't intervened, its debatable weather Sheppard would be here now." Rodney's voice was strained as he stood, still grasping the LSD in his hand, "Where is the medical team, Sheppard needs help now!"

"What happened, how was he injured!" Elizabeth looked from one face to another, but it was Teyla who answered.

"He has been shot Elizabeth. We don't know exactly who by, but we are fairly sure that it was a member of the security force there." Teyla had leant over Sheppard's body as she spoke to Elizabeth, her hands pressing against the wound on his chest, attempting to stem the flow of precious fluid that still leaked onto the floor. She could feel the heat emanating from his body through the sticky material that clung to his lean frame and she couldn't help but think that they may have returned too late.

"The whole thing must have been a set up Elizabeth, we don't even know if the meetings that were arranged were legitimate or not - personally, I'm going with not… Where's Keller!"

As the words left Rodney's lips, Sheppard's body started to tremble violently on the floor and an agonizing gasp burst from his lips. Teyla clutched at his shoulders, straining to contain the shuddering movements that wracked his body. As she watched his struggle, Sheppard's eyes opened suddenly and he looked straight up at Teyla's face, but the gaze was unseeing and as she knelt helplessly at his side, his eyes rolled up and he convulsed.

"Oh god! We're losing him…" Rodney felt incredibly helpless. Give him a failing city, give him a computer glitch…give him anything that he could fix with a laptop and some crystals and he was happy, but there was nothing he could fix here, nothing to 'pull out of the bag' – he was completely helpless, watching his friend dying before his eyes, convulsing on the cold, hard floor of the gateroom, "we're losing him…" the whispered words slipped from his lips as he watched Teyla struggling to keep the pilot from injuring himself further.

The sound of running feet broke the tableau and the group turned as one as Dr Keller rushed into the gateroom with her team following closely behind.

"What happened," Keller dropped beside Sheppard and immediately started to assess his violently convulsing body. Her skilled eyes found the two wound sites almost immediately and she shouted orders behind her at her team as she cut the shirt open, exposing the bubbling wound in Sheppard's ribcage, "Okay, how long since he was shot?" she looked at Teyla, who sat in a state of shock, "Teyla, how long!"

"I am not sure exactly," Teyla looked up at Keller's anxious expression, "We believe that he may have been injured one to two hours ago…"

"That's not good, he's loosing blood like a sieve and there's already an infection present, he's burning up,"she looked up at the members of her team "OKAY, we need to get moving. I'm going to need a full set of bloods, pulse-ox, temperature and resps and I'll need two saline IV's running wide open asap. It looks like he's punctured a lung so we'll need to sort out a chest tube when we get there. Lets get him on the gurney and get the mask on, he's running on empty and needs oxygen, but we may need to bag him if it gets tricky on the way," she indicated for her team to position themselves on either side of the pilot's shuddering body, "Ready ..on, one, two and LIFT!" The medical team lifted Sheppard from the floor and onto the waiting gurney and Keller gave the team a quick nod before she turned and followed the disappearing trolley from the room on its journey to the waiting trauma team and surgeons.

Ronon had been silent since they had returned through the gate, but he vented his fury now as he watched his friend taken away, "I will kill Michael if he crosses my path again; I swear to you now, he 'will' die for this…"

"Ronon, we all feel the same, but for now we need to hold onto that anger and focus instead on Colonel Sheppard." Teyla knew how Ronon felt, she felt exactly the same, but she knew that she had to control her emotions, keeping them in check.

"Elizabeth….?" Teyla touched Elizabeth's arm.

Elizabeth's attention had been fixed on the disappearing trolley, "Yes - sorry Teyla, go. We can talk later, once we know more about John's condition."

The team needed no further prompting, and one by one they turned towards the doorway that led towards the infirmary and the fate of their friend.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

They had to wait. They had to sit outside whilst the team inside struggled to keep their friend alive. They could only imagine what was happening behind the closed doors of the infirmary. They had heard muffle shouts penetrating the thick double doors as they sat quietly, shouts for cross matched blood, shouts for intubation trays…and then for a few moments nothing.

Then the whine of charging paddles; the shouted instruction.. "CLEAR!"…and again nothing…

"I can't stand this, I need to know what's happening!" Rodney stood and walked towards the double doors, his hand outstretched to push into the room, but he hesitated. "Actually, I probably don't want to know what they're doing in there do I.."

"Rodney, we are all worried, but there is nothing that we can do except wait here until Dr Keller informs us of Colonel Sheppard's condition.." Teyla knew how Rodney felt. The muffled noises that they could hear did not bode well for their friend, she herself could feel the pain and anguish sitting in the pit of her stomach like a dead weight as she guided Rodney back to the seat beside her, but at least John was now back in the city and amongst friends. Dr Keller was an excellent doctor, if a bit unsure of herself at the moment; but then having to replace Carson under such emotionally extreme circumstances had been very hard on her as well as everybody else in the city. She had fitted in as best as she could, taking control of the medical facility with a gentle hand rather than a firm one. The staff had appreciated her soft manner and had felt encouraged as she settled into her stride; she was a fine doctor, but had needed reassurance that she could be great as a boss as well.

"I'm not sure that he's going to get through this one…"Rodney stared at the floor as he put the anguish that he felt into words, "He looked really, really bad."

"He is strong Rodney, he is a fighter. We must remain hopeful that we returned in time and that Dr Keller will be able to help him.."

"I know Teyla, but you saw how much blood he had lost…I mean, there was so much of it, it was everywhere!" Rodney stood once more and paced towards the closed doors.

"McKay, sit.." Ronon stared at the scientist, his face impassive, "Sheppard's a fighter, he'll survive.."

"And when did you get to be so sure!" Rodney rounded on the Satedan, "You were there, you saw how weak he was and, .. and the blood, he was coughing up blood for goodness sake!" Rodney's voice dropped to a whisper as he finally sat down, "you saw it all just the same as I did…."

"Yeah, I saw it…" Ronon turned his head down towards the floor again, his eyes hidden from the others. He felt the anguish that they felt just as keenly, but he had learned over the years to hold in his emotions, to keep himself in check. These people were the closest thing to a family that he had experienced in a very long time and he felt their hurt deeply, but he kept it pulled inside away from prying eyes.

The doors to the infirmary opened and Dr Keller's face appeared, drawn and pale as she pulled the blood stained gloves from her fingers. She beckoned them through into the infirmary and preceded them as they moved across the room and towards her office. The infirmary was empty, but the debris spread across the floor told tales of the ferocious battle that had raged around one of the beds. The floor was littered with blood soaked dressings, strapping and discarded sterile wrappings. Rodney glanced at the empty bed and his heart sank further; there were signs that Sheppard had been there; the blood stained sheets and empty IV bags, but he was not there now.

Keller sat down heavily into her chair and rested her hands on the desk, waiting until the group settled before beginning. Just as she opened her mouth to start, the doors to the infirmary flew open and Elizabeth entered, looking around until she saw the group huddled into the small office in the corner, then joining then without a word but with a nod towards Dr Keller to continue.

"Okay, let's start by saying that he is still alive. We've got him in surgery right now and the surgical team are trying to repair the damage…." the collective sigh that the words generated brought a small, if slightly sad smile to her lips, "…but."

"Now why did I know that there would be a 'but' coming there.."

"Rodney!" Elizabeth threw a stern look towards the scientist and he mumbled an apology, "continue doctor.." Elizabeth gestured for Keller to continue.

"But….there are problems. Firstly, the bullet that struck him, nicked his left lung as it travelled through his chest, that's why he's been coughing up the blood that you saw. Secondly, because of the passage of the bullet, his chest has filled with fluid, which in turn has compressed his lung, so up until now he has in effect been trying to survive on half the oxygen that his body needs." She paused and drew in a deep breath before continuing, " ….and thirdly, the wounds have become infected – and his temperature is raging; that's one of the reasons why he started convulsing down in the gate room, his body just couldn't cope anymore."

"What can you do for him.." Elizabeth asked the question that was waiting on the lips of them all, "what are his chances…."

"Well, at the moment, as I said, he's in surgery. But he's a strong man and physically in excellent condition, so.. there is certainly hope, but we have to accept the fact that he's in a pretty bad way. The blood loss alone had caused his body to weaken to a dangerous level."

"And the damage to his lung?" Elizabeth's voice quaked slightly, "how bad was the damage to his lung.."

"Well, the trauma surgeons are working on him as we speak, so we'll probably know more when they finish up, but if we can repair the damage and get a chest drain in to get rid of the fluid that's built up, there's a good chance that his breathing will improve. As to the infection….that's another thing altogether, all we can do is try hitting it with a broad spectrum antibiotic while we test the bloods and hope that there's nothing totally foreign in there that we have no defence against."

"So, we wait then.." Rodney slumped in his chair, defeated and dejected.

"Yes Dr McKay, I'm afraid that for the time being, we can do no more. He's in the best possible hands; the team in there is the finest we have to offer, so from now on, it's up to the Colonel. We have to hope that his will to live is strong enough, because god knows his body has been through enough…"

"When will we know, you know.." Rodney watched Keller's expression soften as she answered the difficult question,

"Based on the way things were going when I left them prepping, I can't see them finishing up any time soon. You have to understand Dr McKay, the damage to the Colonel's body was severe – we lost him once whilst assessing him, so I would have to be cautious and say that we probably won't hear anything more for a few hours yet," she stood as she continued, "I'll let you know as soon as I know anymore, but for the time being, we all have to be patient and wait for the surgeons to finish their work."

"You'll let us know straight away if there's any news…"

"Yes Dr McKay, of course. Look, I'm as anxious as you all are right now, but he really is in the best of hands as I said and we have to just be patient and let the surgeons work." Keller moved towards the door, but turned back as the team stood to follow her out of the office, "He's a lucky man, to have such close friends…"

"He is a good man Doctor, we count ourselves as fortunate to have a friend and colleague like him." Elizabeth nodded to Keller as she left the office and turned back to the group, "There's nothing more we can do here, we should probably go; I'm sure Dr Keller will let us know if and when there is any more news."

"I'll wait here. Nowhere else I want to be right now." Ronon's voice left no doubt that he wouldn't be dissuaded from staying nearby, whatever anyone said.

"I will join you Ronon. I wish to be here if there is any further ….news." Teyla smiled at the Satedan and he nodded briefly.

"I'll stay as well. No use me getting started on anything in the labs, I won't be able to concentrate anyway with 'Captain Invincible' stuck in there," he indicated towards the operating theatre, "so I may as well be here too…"

Elizabeth knew that Rodney wouldn't want to be anywhere else, work not withstanding, and she smiled at her team. They were so passionate in their deep respect and friendship for each other; even Ronon, who had only joined the team relatively recently.

She understood why they felt as they did. John had a way of creeping under your skin. His easy going command style had proven to be highly successful and the soldiers under his command held him in high esteem and were incredibly loyal; he commanded without brashness and never asked anyone to attempt anything that he was not willing to undertake himself. He was selfless in his loyalty to his friends and had shown on more than one occasion that he was willing to sacrifice himself for their lives. She knew that there had been occasions when they had clashed from a command standpoint, but she also knew that she respected him for his passion – and that it had been his passion for the job that had created those situations in the first place.

"I'll stay too. I'm sure that there's nothing that can't wait for a while."

"Well, I suppose that means we'll have to get comfortable then…I don't think we're going to hear anything for a while." Rodney walked out of the office and picked up a chair from beside one of the beds in the main area of the infirmary, returning to the office and placed it against the wall. As the others looked at him he looked back indignantly, "Well, if we're going to be here a while, I for one intend to be comfortable for the duration.."

Teyla shook her head and smiled briefly, "Do not worry Rodney, we will obtain our own seating."

"What, oh…." Rodney realised what she meant and half rose up.

"No, don't you move McKay.." Ronon looked at the disgruntled scientist and walked out into the room, gathering two further chairs as he moved and returning to place them next to the desk in the office.

"Well I…." Rodney blustered, but the raised eyebrows stifled his response and he sat, crossing his arms.

"Do not worry Rodney…" Teyla could see that the scientist was flustered.

"I'm not worried, well not worried about, …DAMN IT Sheppard, why do you have to do this to us again!"

"He will survive Rodney. Have faith, he is in the best of care now, we did everything that we could, we could not have done more."

Rodney's eyes dropped to the floor, "I should know that Teyla, and that's what worries me the most. Did we leave him inside that silo for too long, ..could we have done anything differently?"

"There was no way that any of you could have known how badly injured he was Rodney," Elizabeth's voice carried strength as she reassured the fretful man, "and from what I have heard, if any of you had attempted to access the building, your element of surprise would have been lost and you may well have failed to gain his release and possibly ended up as prisoners yourselves."

"We did the right thing McKay and we got him out." Ronon's voice cut through the doubt that had descended on the group, "He's only in there now because we waited and used the only weapon we had – surprise, that's all we could do and we did it."

"We did didn't we, but I just hope that we were quick enough that's all."

"Time will tell Rodney, we can do nothing now until Dr Keller tells us more, so we have to be patient."

"I know you're right Teyla, but patience isn't one of my…um, you know…"

"I know Rodney, but until Dr Keller returns, we must wait, however hard it is…."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

The waiting was by far and away the worst part. They could handle the unknown, they could handle running through alien landscapes being chased by the Wraith; they could even handle sitting on the edge of the abyss looking down at their own destruction at the hands of a Wraith armada, but this - this was worse, because this was incredibly personal and the pain of their potential loss cut deeper than anything else.

The atmosphere in the small cramped room had descended into a state of uncomfortable silence as each member of the team dealt with their anxiety in their own way. Teyla sat next to Ronon with her eyes closed in a state of calm meditation, her hands placed in her lap and her face relaxed as she waited for an update on her friend's condition.

Ronon had shrugged off the long coat that he had worn during the mission, and it now lay in a crumpled heap beside the chair that he occupied. He had stretched his long legs out in front of him and he now sat with his eyes also closed and his head resting against the grey wall behind him, keeping his thoughts to himself.

Rodney couldn't sit still; his anxiety was displayed on his sleeve for all to see, his eyes constantly flicking to the doorway, willing the doors to the surgical unit to open, willing the news to be good, not wanting – and certainly not prepared, for anything else.

Elizabeth had positioned herself at the desk itself, her fingers intertwined on the desk top, her soft hair tumbling over her lowered eyes, hiding the concern that resided there. She had been here before, as had they all, but this time was different, this time they didn't have a magic cure – a retrovirus – to alleviate John's suffering. This time his survival was dependant solely on the skill of the team that were operating on his injured body. This time, the only factor that would influence his living or dying was his inner strength and the skill of his surgeons and that was the hardest part to come to terms with, having no control. She lifted her head and looked around the room at her premier team and her face softened; they looked so lost. Rodney had the look of a small child waiting for the return of an angry parent, his face creased in concern. Teyla sat, seemingly lost in her own thoughts; but Elizabeth knew that she would be feeling the pain of the situation – she just coped in her own way. Elizabeth glanced across at Ronon. He was so difficult to read, his eyes characteristically lowered. He had settled so well into the team and Elizabeth knew that he would be finding it hard to sit still knowing that Sheppard was only the other side of the double swing doors that led through to the surgical suite; they had developed a strong friendship during the months that they had known each other; their regular sparring sessions had become friendly battles and their regular morning runs completed in companionable silence.

As Elizabeth sat back in the chair, pulling out the knotted muscles that had gathered in her shoulders, the door that led through to the operating and ICU rooms opened and Dr Keller reappeared.

The sudden sound brought each member of the team to their feet, alert at once. All eyes turned towards her as she walked across the infirmary towards the office, each of them studying her face for an indication of the news to come. As she entered the office and sat down on the edge of the desk, she paused to look at each of the team in turn before speaking.

"Okay, the good news is that he came through the surgery pretty well…"

"Oh, thank god.." Rodney sat back down in the chair that he had been occupying for the last few hours, but then looked back up at Keller, "Oh, I know, there's a 'but' coming now isn't there…I knew it!"

"There is I'm afraid Dr McKay," she looked around the room and pulled in a deep breath before continuing, "The surgeons have done a really remarkable job; they've managed to repair the torn lung tissue that the bullet nicked on its way through and the wounds themselves have been closed nicely,"

"That's good, isn't it?" Rodney looked up at Keller's face and the frown that had appeared.

"Yes, it is… but unfortunately they also had to graft a section of skin into the wound site on the Colonel's back because the skin there had been pretty badly torn up by the bullet's exit," she pushed a hand through her hair, "…so yes, all in all the actual surgery went very well, but - and it's a big but, … the infection that's now present is causing us more than a little concern. The Colonel's body had already been weakened by the trauma of the wounds themselves, as well as the lack of oxygen caused by his collapsed lung, …so I would be lying if I said that I wasn't a bit worried at the moment." She rubbed her hands over her face as she continued, " The antibiotics that we're pumping into him do seem to be keeping a check on the infection, but unfortunately it's a pretty nasty one and he's just not coping with it very well.."

"How 'not very well' are we talking about.." Rodney badly needed to hear something positive, but was acutely aware that that wasn't probably going to happen.

"If I'm being honest, at this moment in time, things really could go either way for him. His body is desperately weak, and even though we're giving him all the help that we can in the form of venting him to relieve the stress on his lungs and pumping antibiotics into him as fast as we can, he is struggling….."

Keller stood up and placed her hands behind her on the desk top, "there isn't anything more we can actually do to help alleviate what he's going through at the moment apart from deal with the symptoms as they occur. We've ruled out any sepsis at the moment, which is good, but my real concern is that he'll develop a form of bacterial pneumonia and with his lungs in the state they are at the moment, that wouldn't be good."

The silence that descended over the room was palpable. As each member of the group absorbed the latest round of news, Keller could do nothing but watch their pain, knowing that there was really nothing that she could say at the moment to help.

"Look, they're getting him settled in the ICU at the moment, so give me a few minutes to check that they're happy with things in there and maybe we can let you see him for a minute or two ..OK?"

"That would be very kind Dr Keller, thank you." Teyla had risen from her chair and smiled warmly at Keller's suggestion, "I am sure that we would all like to reassure ourselves that he is still with us.."

"Okay then. Give me a few minutes as I said and I'll come get you when we're ready.." she pushed her fingers through her hair once more as she paused by the door, "I have to warn you though, he doesn't look too good at the moment.."

"Well, he couldn't look much worse than he did when we dragged him back from that planet now, could he…"

Rodney was angry. He was angry at himself for feeling as he did, but more than that, he was angry at Sheppard for putting them through this again. He knew it wasn't the pilot's fault, but he just found it intolerably difficult to cope with this 'life and death' stuff, especially when the victim was a good friend.

Rodney's life had always been severely lacking in the friendship department until he had been stationed here; he had always struggled to control his ego and his snarky, sarcastic tone had seen off most contenders in the friendship stakes before they had even got to know him at all…but that was until he had met Sheppard, and had found the perfect foil for his dry wit.

The man infuriated him immensely, but he had over time developed not just an admiration for the laid back soldier, but a genuine regard for his easy manner and unguarded humour and Rodney's time in the city had become a lot less difficult since then. Now as he stood waiting with his colleagues, he dreaded what he was going to be confronted with on the other side of the double doors.

Keller returned to the group after a few minutes and silently beckoned them to follow her through the doors and into the ICU unit that lay beyond.

There was a pause before Ronon pushed himself up onto his feet and proceeded towards the doors, followed by Teyla, Elizabeth and finally Rodney. The Satedan pushed through the swing doors, following Dr Keller as she preceded him into the ICU room.

The first thing that struck Ronon as he entered the room was the unfamiliar sounds. The room was empty apart from the three beds that stood near to each other against the far wall and only one of those was occupied at the moment, so the sounds echoed slightly within the space and seemed far too loud.As he proceeded further into the room, the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor reassured him that Sheppard was indeed alive, but the hiss of the ventilator as it pushed life giving oxygen into the body of his friend seemed wrong, intrusive almost. As the group moved towards the motionless figure on the bed, their steps slowed – the approach seeming almost out of place in the sterile environment.

"Okay, as I said he's on the vent to help with his breathing at the moment – but also to take away any further stress from his body." Keller pointed to the various IV's that snaked from their supporting posts to finish at various points on the exposed skin of Sheppard's arms, "We've got him on a cocktail of antibiotics at the moment, we're just hoping that we can stop the infection that is present before it gets any worse. The rest of those are just fluids and pain meds…."

"And that…" Rodney pointed to the tube that snaked from the side of Sheppard's chest down the side of the bed to end in a clear tub half filled with a blue fluid. The tube held a bloody coloured clear liquid that disappeared down into the apparatus on the floor.

"That's the chest drain. When he came in, the space in his chest that's normally filled with lung tissue was full of blood and air, it was in essence stopping his lung from reinflating, sort of squashing it flat. By releasing the pressure in there, his now repaired lung has inflated properly and he's able to breath on both sides; the tube is there to ensure that the space stays clear of blood and any other fluids, does that make sense?" Keller wasn't sure how much she should tell them or how much detail they needed to know, but they were here because they cared and she felt that they deserved her honesty. "I'll leave you for a few minutes, but if you need me, I'll be just next door." She turned away from the group and headed back through the doors and into the main room of the infirmary.

Elizabeth was the first to approach the side of the bed, her hands shaking as she stopped beside the broken body that lay there. As she reached out her hand towards Sheppard's arm, she hesitated and withdrew her fingers, suddenly afraid to touch Sheppard's skin. He looked so incredibly fragile.

His face was flushed and even his normally unruly hair looked limp and sweat drenched against the glistening skin. His eyelids were closed, but she could see that his eyes shifted occasionally under the dark rimmed lids, as if his unnatural sleep was disturbed by vivid dreams.

She hated the vent. The machine was an incredible intrusion, all be it a necessary one – but she understood the important role that it now played in keeping Sheppard alive as she watched the steady rise and fall of his chest. His chest was exposed and the stark white dressings that covered the wound on his ribcage contrasted sharply with the flushed skin underneath, the bandages swathing around his body to meet underneath where the second wound was hidden. A thin sheet covered the lower half of his body, but she noticed more tubes that snaked away underneath the covering, disappearing below the level of the bed, their purpose obvious.

The steady rise and fall of his chest reassured her that Sheppard was still with them and that he was fighting, but Dr Keller's words prayed heavily on her mind as she stood with her hand resting gently against the warmth of his skin. Teyla drew closer to the bedside and stood with Elizabeth, her eyes closing slightly as she offered a silent prayer to the ancestors for Sheppard's recovery. Rodney also moved forward slightly, his eyes fixed on the monitors, their steady beeping a constant reassurance that his friend was alive. As they stood deep in their own thoughts, the door opened once more and one of the ICU nurses appeared and approached the bed.

"I'm sorry, but I need to note his stats, if you don't mind..?"

"Of course, we'll leave you to it." Elizabeth motioned that they should leave the room, and the grateful nurse turned her attention back to noting down the necessary information that she needed from the various monitors around Sheppard's bed.

"We'll be back later Sheppard." Ronon's words caught Elizabeth off guard and she drew in a deep breath as she felt the situation start to overwhelm her. Teyla glanced across at Elizabeth's face as they left the room and she placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "He is strong Elizabeth, he will come through this, I am sure."

"I wish I had your confidence in that Teyla, he just looked so…fragile, so 'not' John Sheppard.."

"I know Elizabeth, but he is still here with us, and if I know him at all, he will fight, tooth and nail."

"I hope you're right Teyla, we need him – the city needs him. I can't imagine this place without him."

"Then we should not, we must 'stay positive', as John likes to say.." Teyla smiled at Elizabeth's grimace.

"You're right of course, but did you have to bring that up!" Elizabeth smiled back at Teyla, grateful that the mood had been lifted slightly, "I suppose I need to go get some work done, are you staying here?"

"Yes, I believe that I will stay for a while longer." Teyla looked enquiringly towards Rodney and Ronon.

"I'm not ready to leave yet," Ronon had already positioned himself back into the chair that he had vacated earlier, his long frame sprawled in the small chair in preparation for the long wait ahead.

"Well, I'll go get a coffee and then I'll probably stay too …anyone else want ..um ..anything?" Rodney indicated towards the direction of the mess hall, ignoring the looks of surprise that greeted his offer, "No, okay then, I'll be back in a few minutes, if you ..um, need me for, you know.. anything, you'll know where I am."

"Yes Rodney, I'm sure we will be fine." Teyla gave Ronon a long suffering look as Rodney headed towards the door,

"Right then, I'll go…." The blaring of alarms stopped Rodney in his tracks and his face dropped in horror as Keller ran past the doorway and threw herself through the double doors to the ICU.

"Oh no,no,no……."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

The shriek of the alarms deafened them as the team burst through the doors that led into Sheppard's room, the scene that greeted them stopping them dead in their tracks.

The pillow that had been supporting Sheppard's head had been ripped away and now lay discarded on the floor beside the bed. Keller had disconnected the vent from the tubes that disappeared down Sheppard's throat and instead had attached an ambubag, now being held in the shaking hands of the ICU nurse who had been in attendance earlier. Where before there had been the rhythmic, mechanical rush as the machine breathing for him, now the only sound in the room was the push of air being forced down into his lungs by the ICU nurse who stood at Sheppard's side. Keller pulled the defib set towards her and grabbed two pads which she placed on Sheppard's motionless chest. As she prepped the defib paddles, the whine of the charging apparatus was way too familiar to the ears of the watching team and they could only stand aghast as Keller placed the paddles on the waiting contacts.

"CLEAR!"

Keller discharging the current.

As she pressed the buttons, Sheppard's body arched on the bed, every muscle contracting as the charge passed through his dying body.

Keller turned to the monitors, but the flatline mocked her and she grunted in disgust as she turned back to Sheppard's body. "Damn it, nothing ..charging again." Again the whine as the current built, joining the shrill screams of the monitors in a cacophony of sound that threatened too overwhelm them.

"CLEAR!"

Again she depressed the buttons and once more Sheppard's lifeless body stiffened sharply on the bed before collapsing back onto the sweat soaked sheet.

This time the monitor stopped screaming and as they watched, the flatline jumped once, hesitated, and then jumped once more, before settling finally into a steady rhythm. Keller placed her fingers against Sheppard's neck, needing the physical reassurance that the weak but steady pulse gave her, then she nodded towards the nurse who disconnected the ambubag and reconnected the vent, once more initiating the rhythmic push of air.

"Oh Colonel, don't do that to me!" Keller rested her hands on the bedside and closed her eyes as the stress caught up with her. It was only as she opened her eyes once more that she took stock of her surroundings and finally noticed the audience watching her. The shocked faces shifted between her and the bed where Sheppard lay so still, his chest rising and falling methodically, once more connected to the life giving vent.

"He's definitely a fighter, I'll give him that!" Keller stood upright and turned to the team.

Elizabeth regained her composure first and approached the bedside, "What happened?"

Keller pushed a stray hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear as she sat on the end of one of the empty beds that faced the group. "It was to be expected really. His body is so incredibly weak that he's really struggling to fight off this infection, and it's starting to put a lot of undue pressure on his vital organs. His temperature is way off and we're really struggling to get it down."

"Is there anything that you can do..?"

"Very little. Apart from maintaining the meds that he's on at the moment and keeping him as cool as possible, we just have to give his body the support it needs until it reaches a level where it's capable of holding it's own; the antibiotics do seem to be working, its just a very critical time at the moment."

Keller looked shell shocked. She hadn't been head of department very long and to have the life of the military commander in her hands had taken her way out of her comfort zone. But she had to be dispassionate, she was after all just his doctor and he was still her patient and he needed her ministrations now more than ever. "He's stable for now, we've just got to keep doing what we're doing and hope that he's strong enough to come through it."

"So that's it! He's on his own.."

"It's okay Rodney, he's not on his own at all, we just have to let Dr Keller and her team get on with their work. They know what they're doing… John couldn't be in better hands."

"Dr Weir, there really isn't much that you can do right now. You are welcome to stay and wait if you wish, but I can't see there being any change in the next few hours at least; he's stable at the moment and we'll keep monitoring him every few minutes to hopefully make sure that he stays that way."

"Of course Doctor, I think we could all do with a break, "she looked round as she spoke, "We should leave you to concentrate, I'm sure if there is any change you will let us know straight away?"

"Of course. " Keller nodded, then stood and returned to Sheppard's side, her attention now firmly fixed back on her patient.

Elizabeth gestured that they should leave the room and led the way out into the main infirmary once more. The shock of seeing John in such a desperate situation had affected her more than she had realised and she needed to sit down. Approaching the small office once more, she took advantage of the comfortable chair that sat by the desk and collapsed into its padded seat.

"That was too close…we so nearly lost him again. I'm not sure how much more I can handle!" Elizabeth looked down at her hands as they lay face down on the desk top, shaking with delayed shock. She had never had to watch anyone close to her so near death before and to have experienced it at first hand had affected her deeply. John was a good friend, he didn't deserve to be in there, to be suffering…

"We all share the same feelings Elizabeth. John is more than a friend to us, he has made us," she indicated towards Ronon, "feel like part of a family here and it hurts us to see him like that. It is very…painful to watch someone that you care about suffer as he is.."

"That was just, … just too close! Why! ….Why did we have to go to that godforsaken world in the first place. Why did it have to be Michael. Of all the 'people' for us to run into.." Rodney paced up and down the office floor like a caged tiger, his hands rubbing together unconsciously as he moved.

"We had no way of knowing McKay!" Ronon stood suddenly, "It was a set up, we know that now and there's nothing we can do to undo what's been done." Ronon leant back against the wall, his eyes lowered to the floor, "We were careful, but he was better and we, that is 'Sheppard', suffered for it…but I'm telling you now, it won't happen again."

"If we could turn back the clock Ronon, it would be wonderful, but we can't. Even though we have to accept that Michael is still out there, we at least have John here with us – we have to be thankful for that."

"Oh, believe me I am. But know this. If Michael crosses my path again – ever – he'll know the full meaning of pain and suffering." Ronon's eyes glowed with hatred as he looked up at Elizabeth. "He will die, I promise you that….and I promise Sheppard that the pain he's suffering will be avenged, if not today, then another day when 'Michael' is least expecting it!"

"Well, lets just hope that 'fly boy' is around when that happens, hm?" Rodney had finally stopped pacing and had dropped into a chair next to Ronon, his face still creased with concern.

"Elizabeth, I feel that John should not be on his own at the moment. I am aware that Dr Keller needs to monitor him closely, but if anything should happen…I would not like to think that he was alone…."

"I agree Teyla, I'll speak with Dr Keller. I'm sure she won't mind having one of us there at a time, just in case."

"Thank you Elizabeth, I know that I would want to have company if I were to……"

"I understand completely Teyla," Elizabeth stopped Teyla from completing the sentence. The thought of John dying alone was not one that she wanted to have to consider, but as a realist she had to accept that the possibility was very real and she agreed with Teyla; she would want one of them there if it did happen. "Even though we can't all be there, I'm sure we can organise to visit in shifts?" She looked at the faces in front of her and the simultaneous nodding brought a sad smile to her face, "I'm sure John will appreciate the support…when he wakes up."

"If, you mean…." Rodney was trying so hard to be positive, but seeing his friend torn back from the brink of death had left him with a bitter taste in his mouth, and he was finding it hard to cope with the overwhelming feeling of potential loss.

"It will be 'when' Rodney…he will return to us, I am sure."

"Well, I just wished I shared your confidence that's all Teyla, I really, really do….." and Rodney sat back in the chair, his head in his hands.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

The team could do no more than stay at Sheppard's side as he fought for his life, and one by one they took it in turns to sit a vigil at the side of their desperately ill friend. Each dealt with the situation in their own way, their individual thoughts private – tucked away.

Keller respected the privacy of their vigils, and apart from checking in every hour to satisfy herself that the Colonel was holding his own, she stayed out of the room; remaining at a distance and allowing each team member space to deal with their own thoughts.

Elizabeth took to sitting by John's bedside with either a novel or a stack of reports, occasionally asking John's advice about aspects of the day to day running of the city, posing questions, hoping to stimulate a response. She was determined that if he could hear anything at all, that it should be the normality of the city and friendly voices and not the monotone bleeping of the monitors beside him.

Ronon handled things very differently. He sat silently during his stints on watch; pulling up a second chair, stretching out his legs on the hard seat and crossing his arms. He would nod briefly at Keller or the ICU nurse that they had come to know quite well, as they stopped in hourly, but he rarely spoke to them, preferring instead to keep his thoughts to himself and unwilling to share them with anyone else.

Teyla stood in sharp contrast to her Satedan team mate. As she sat at Sheppard's side, she spoke constantly, her soft voice telling him of those in the city who had asked after his condition. She spoke freely about the day to day comings and goings in the city and she constantly reminded him how much he was missed as 'their team could not return to active duty without him'. The last part wasn't strictly true. Elizabeth had gently suggested that maybe, they should return to active status under the leadership of Major Lorne, but the suggestion had fallen on stony ground and Elizabeth had not raised it again.

Sheppard's condition remained critical and as his friends came and went, he lay unaware of their concerns, lost as he was in the depths of unconsciousness. His body functions had been stabilised by the mechanical intervention of the vent and the multitude of IV's that snaked over his body, disappearing into his skin and feeding him the pain meds and antibiotics that were helping his body to heal, but he was totally unaware of the worry that his condition had caused for those around him. He had been kept under a heavy sedation since returning from the planet. Keller had deciding that to allow him to return to consciousness too early would set back his healing process; but as the hours turned into days, she began to gradually reduce the levels of the drugs that were being pumped into his body and he started to show definite signs of improvement. The infection that had stricken his body was finally showing signs of disappearing and the chest drain that had been pushed between his ribs was now running clear as the damage to his lung and the surrounding tissue finally started to heal.

As Rodney pushed through the double doors to relieve Ronon from his period of watch beside the critical care bed, he carried his ever present laptop under his arm. It was coming up to a week since they had returned through the gate with Sheppard and even though their off world missions had been placed on hold indefinitely, life in the city went on and Rodney had been forced to return to the labs and to continue the research that took up a large proportion of his time. New discoveries and of course, existing problems, never really went away and Rodney had re-immersed himself into his work. The work helped. At first he had found that his focus wouldn't come, his thoughts constantly returning to the image of Sheppard's body contorting on the bed as Keller struggled to keep him alive; but as time had passed and he had spent more time at Sheppard's side, the images had faded and the horror that he had felt had gradually been replaced with more positive thoughts as Sheppard's condition had stabilized. Now, as Rodney sat down into the chair beside Sheppard, its seat still warm from Ronon's occupation, he settled himself in for his turn on watch and with a quick side ways glance at Sheppard's relaxed face, he opened the lid of his computer and activated the programmes that he needed to access.

Rodney had found himself surprised by Radek's supportiveness during the last few days. He had never really considered the man as a friend, but things had changed so much since they had came to Atlantis and Rodney had progressed slowly from forgetting Radek's name completely, to actually calling on him for his advise more and more over the last few months, so it shouldn't have come as a shock to him that Radek had taken it upon himself to deal with many of the more mundane system related tasks that Rodney usually had to deal with, as well as fielding research questions that would normally have found themselves at Rodney's door. This had allowed Rodney to be left alone more than usual and although he hadn't realised it and he may not have noticed, his colleagues were well aware of the distraction that plagued his thoughts.

As Rodney now focused his attention on the glowing screen of his computer, drifting through page after page of text and system schematics, he didn't notice at first the minute flicker of movement that touched Sheppard's face. He didn't notice immediately the slight curl of Sheppard's finger, so engrossed was he in the text that flashed across the laptop screen. It wasn't until he raised a hand to his face to push at his tired eyes that he looked across to the bed – and noticed.

He placed the computer down on the empty bed beside him and leant over towards Sheppard's side. Once more Sheppard's fingers scratched slowly at the sheet that still covered his lower body, but this time Rodney saw and his eyes lit up.

"Sheppard! ..Oh my god, you moved! Did you, …did you just move?" Rodney moved closer to the bed and studied Sheppard's face. This time there was no doubt – the twitch of an eye. Rodney didn't need a second prompt and he ran through the double doors and towards Keller's office. Dr Keller sat studying papers at her desk as Rodney burst through the doors, and the sight of Rodney's agitated state pushed her to her feet, immediately fearing the worst,

"Dr McKay, what's wrong?"

"He moved! I was sitting there and all of a sudden he moved!"

"Okay, let's go take a look shall we..." Keller grabbed her scope and followed Rodney back towards the ICU room.

As they entered the room, there was no mistaking that Sheppard had become more aware. The minute shift in his leg position was evident and once more his fingers curled slowly against the crisp sheeting that covered his lower body.

"Okay, that's a good sign, isn't it?" Rodney held back as Keller approached the bedside, speaking over her shoulder as she did,

"I've been gradually reducing the levels of sedative and pain meds he's been getting over the course of the the last day or two. We need him to come back gently and it's not going to be easy for him, but…yes Dr McKay, these are all good signs."

"So, he's going to be waking up soon then….."

"Give him time Dr, don't be in too much of a rush. The progress he's made over the last two days has been very encouraging, the infection that has been ravaging his body has finally dissipated and his temperature is much better, but there's still a long way to go yet and as I said, it's not going to be easy for him."

"But he's going to 'get there'…?" Rodney looked from the face of his friend to Keller.

"If you mean will he make a full recovery…" she looked at Sheppard's still form, "I think the prognosis is very good. Based on the way that he's been able to cope with the trauma of his injuries and the subsequent infection that attacked him….as I said before, he's definitely a fighter."

"Yes, as well as stubborn, foolhardy and irritating beyond words!"

Keller smiled warmly at the affection hidden behind Rodney's words. She wasn't blind, she had seen the way that Sheppard's team had supported him; selflessly giving up their time to be at his side. She had almost felt a pang of jealousy at their closeness, but she had read all the files and she knew what they had been through together over the years, and if those experiences hadn't brought them closer together, she would have been very surprised.

As she turned back to her patient, there was no doubt that he was definitely showing signs of improvement. His eyes flickered under dark rimmed lids and his legs and hands twitched intermittently as she studied the readouts from the monitors to his side. As she leant over and lifted one of his eyelids to flash her penlight at his pupil, she nodded to herself, pleased with the improvement. Standing, she adjusted the output levels on the IV's once more and then checked his hand where the needles pierced his vein, the port wrapped in stark white bandages.

"You can stay Dr McKay," she had noticed that Rodney stood looking uncomfortable as she had gone about her regular checks, "he's getting there, but it's going to be a few more hours yet before we see any further improvement. I've reduced the level of his sedative and pain medication a shade more, so he should start to respond a bit more soon."

"Will he be in, um… any pain, you know as you've cut back on the pain medication..?" Rodney felt awkward asking, but he had seen Sheppard in agony already and couldn't face seeing him in any more distress.

"If he's going to pull out of this, then I've got to start weaning him off the meds very slowly. I'm not talking about removing them altogether, just giving him back a bit of feeling that's all; he needs to be able to feel to come back to us.."

"I see…" Rodney's face betrayed the doubt that he felt, but after everything that he had seen since their return from the planet, he had developed a new respect Keller and now found himself deferring to her skill as Sheppard's physician.

"If you'll excuse me Dr, I'll go write up the latest improvements in the Colonel's condition…?" Keller hooked her thumb towards the door, indicating that she was leaving and Rodney nodded haphazardly towards her, his attention still fixed on the subtle movements that indicated that his friend truly was on the road to recovery.

"He's getting there Dr McKay, just don't expect too much too soon that's all..okay?" Keller took a final look towards Rodney and her patient, then turned and left.

Rodney nodded towards the closing door as he sat once more in the chair, buzzing at the new turn of events. Kellers words drifted through his thoughts and even though she had remained cautious, he knew in his heart that she was right, that Sheppard was indeed a fighter... as well as stubborn and irritating.Rodney smiled to himself as he shook his head; Sheppard sure had a way of creeping under your skin! Taking a final long look towards Sheppard, Rodney picked up his previously discarded laptop and once more immersed himself in the figures that needed his attention.

As his shift at Sheppard's side finally came to an end, Rodney shut off the programmes that were running on the computer and instead started to think about his rumbling stomach and what 'delights' would be waiting for him in the mess hall. Leaning back in the chair, he rubbed at his tired eyes and rested his head back against the cool surface of the wall. Eyes closed, he grimaced at the headache that he could feel building in his skull. The last few days had been exhausting – he had thrown himself back into his work, trying to juggle both his commitments to the science team, with his need to be with his friend and he could feel the lack of sleep and the stress of it all now starting to take its toll. Sighing deeply and with his thoughts fixed on the next project that waited him in the labs, he pushed himself away from the wall, rubbed at his eyes once more and bent over to pick up the now silent laptop. He caught a glimpse of Teyla at the doorway waiting to take his place at Sheppard's side as he rose to his feet, but as he turned towards the bed to say his goodbye, he wasn't prepared for what he saw.

A pair of hazel eyes.

They were slightly glazed and the discomfort was evident, but still, a pair of hazel eyes and they were looking straight at him.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

Teyla left Rodney standing at Sheppard's side whilst she fetched the cynical Keller from her office once more. It had only been just under an hour since she had last checked Sheppard's condition and she hadn't expected to be called back in so soon. But as soon as she opened the doors and approached the pilot's bed, she saw for herself his very apparent return from the depths.

"Colonel, I know you can't speak at the moment, "she had noticed the burgeoning signs of distress apparent in his eyes, "you've got a vent in place. Your lung was badly damaged by the bullet that entered your chest, so we've had to keep you on the vent to ease the pressure and allow your body the leeway it needed to heal…." She placed her hand on Sheppard's, "Colonel, if you can hear and understand me, just squeeze my hand." She glanced down and smiled as she felt the slight pressure on her fingers, "That's excellent Colonel. Now I know you've been asleep a while now, but your body still has a great deal of healing to do – so take your time." Keller placed Sheppard's hand back on the bed and turned to the waiting figures behind her, "Well, he again continues to surprise me…" she smiled and turned her attention back to her patient, "Okay Colonel, how's the pain – and please be honest with me…, just squeeze my hand again if you need something to just take the edge off." Again she felt the slight squeeze on her hand, but she hadn't needed the indication to tell her that Sheppard was struggling, she had already seen the beads of perspiration that had broken out on his forehead and upper lip, and the slight frown that had appeared on his previously relaxed features.

"Is he okay..?" Rodney was hovering in the background, but he had also seen the subtle signs of distress that had appeared on Sheppard's face.

"He'll be fine Dr McKay, I'm just going to give him a little something to take the discomfort away." Keller leant to the side and picked up the pre-prepared syringe that she had placed there earlier. Moving to stand at Sheppard's head she pricked the needle into the IV port hanging above the bed and slowly injected the contents. "That should help Colonel, rest now.." Keller turned to the two team mates, "He's going to be very sore at the moment so I'm really not surprised that he was honest with me about how he feels, I know I wouldn't want to be going through what he's going through at the moment, he just needs time."

"Rest John, we will still be here when you wake." Teyla couldn't hide the happiness that she was feeling as she smiled down at her friend, but his eyes had already closed again, and the room was silent for a moment as the group absorbed the new development. Teyla looked down at the now sleeping figure then turned to Keller, "How long will he have to be connected to the vent Dr Keller?"

"Well, when he wakes again he's going to feel understandably weak; he's been unconscious for a far length of time and we really can't expect too much from him too quickly. Obviously the sooner we can get him breathing on his own the better, so we'll see about changing the settings to allow him to have a bit more control over his breathing than he does at present. At the moment the vent is actually breathing for him, but we can adjust the output to actually allow him to breath on his own, but with help if he needs it; so in answer to your question, if every thing goes well, I'm hopeful that we should be able to remove the vent within the next day or two."

"I'm sure that John will feel a lot more comfortable when the tubes are gone, they are very ..intrusive for him." Teyla stared at her friend, his face now relaxed in a pain free sleep.

"Time is all important now Teyla, he needs lots of time to let his body heal. Let me get the vent settings changed over and we'll see how things go from there okay." Teyla nodded and turned to look at Rodney, "We should let Dr Keller tend to John, we can return shortly. I am sure that Elizabeth and Ronon will want to know that John has woken, we should let them know."

"Yes, of course…you're right," Rodney nodded his agreement with Teyla and with a slight backwards glance at Keller, who had crouched beside the bed to adjust the settings on the vent, they left.

Sheppard continued to show good signs of recovery and after a further day, Keller decided that it was time to remove the vent altogether. Sheppard had started to struggle with the intrusion of the breathing apparatus, and Keller knew that the time had come to remove it.

Elizabeth stood at Sheppard's side as Keller prepared to remove the vent.

"Easy Colonel, don't fight it – that's it… easy now, well done." Keller pulled the vent free from Sheppard's throat and indicated to the ICU nurse, who stepped up and slipped the waiting oxygen mask onto Sheppard's nose and mouth. Sheppard closed his eyes as the stress of having the vent removed took its toll. He lay still for several minutes before opening his eyes once more and looking up at the faces above him. Elizabeth smiled warmly down at her 2IC, and Sheppard tried to respond to her smile with one of his own, but his muscles wouldn't respond as he wanted, his body weakened incredibly by the week of trauma that he had endured. He lay still for several minutes, but then lifted his hand off the sheet and brought it up to his face, trying to shift the mask that sat there.

"Whoa there Colonel," Keller pulled his hand away from the mask and placed it back down beside him, "Lets not run before we can walk okay!" she gave the pilot a stern look, "Give yourself a few minutes at least before you start going 'freestyle' okay!"

Sheppard smiled briefly up at Keller's reprimand, but he could see the warmth written in her eyes and once more made to move the mask from his face.

"Good god Sheppard, you are so stubborn!" Rodney had appeared at the door and now entered to stand beside Elizabeth, he looked at Keller, "I told you he was stubborn…and foolhardy!"

"Rodney, a little understanding wouldn't go amiss at the moment don't you think. John has only just had the vent removed and it's understandable he would want to communicate if he can." Elizabeth frowned at the scientist, then returned her attention to John as he attempted once more to remove the mask.

"John are you okay?"

Sheppard indicated that he wanted the mask off and Elizabeth looked over at Keller who shrugged in consternation. The pilot had amazed her over the last few days with his resilience and determination. His refusal to give in and his strong will had shown her another side to the cocky, self assured man.

As military leader of the city, he had shown himself to be steadfast and passionate in his command style, but during her short time in the city, she had also seen his deep respect and loyalty to his team mates and friends, a completely different side of him.

She had only had limited contact with the man since she had been forced to take over the medical post that had been left open by Carson's sudden death, and if she was honest, she had been nervous of any involvement in command, even though she had been force to become involved due to her new position.

Colonel Sheppard had been present when she had been told of her new position originally and she remembered his smile as she had nervously shaken hands and the wry look that he had given her as she had admitted her anxiety.

His eyes then had been full of humour and she remembered feeling herself relaxing as she laughed with him. Now as she looked into those same eyes, she could see the determination that she knew existed there and she saw the same strength that had brought him back from the brink of death and she gave in,

"Alright, if he wants the mask off, then okay, but just for a minute…."

Elizabeth lifted the mask off of Sheppard's face and he tried to pull in a deep breath, coughing as the cool air in the room hit his healing lungs. Keller lifted a small container from the side table and placed a small ice chip between his dry lips. As the cool liquid hit his throat, Sheppard closed his eyes and savoured the relief that it offered, waiting as the fluid eased the rawness from his throat. The vent had saved his life, but he really hated the after effects that the intrusive devise left. Keller checked the IV's as he lay quietly, then crouched and checked the wound in his left side where the chest drain protruded. Satisfied that everything was in order, she nodded briefly at Elizabeth and Rodney, "Just a moment mind, don't go overtaxing the Colonel; the last thing we need is a relapse! You know where I am if you need me," she then looked down at Sheppard, "Don't overdue it Colonel, just a few minutes then I expect that mask to be back in place.." she smiled at the group, turned away and left.

Sheppard watched Keller leave, then raised a shaking hand to his face and rubbed at his red rimmed eyes, the dark circles underneath accentuating his gaunt features. Elizabeth was worried about him, "Can I get you anything John?"

Sheppard looked up at her worried face and a thin smile broke his features, "M'good…"

"Are you sure John, are you in any pain…?"

"M'okay Lizbeth, …what's happn'd." He coughed as the effort of speaking strained his vocal cords. His muscles hadn't been used for over a week and he was discovering how much his inactivity had affected him. Once more he struggled to speak, "Mich'l….did he get away?" He closed his eyes as the effort drained his strength.

Elizabeth looked over at Rodney before answering John's question, but he just shrugged, "He needs to know Elizabeth." She sighed and waited until Sheppard opened his eyes once more before speaking.

"He's gone John. He escaped from the planet," she could see the pain that the news caused Sheppard, but Rodney was right; he had a right to know the truth. "We sent two teams back to the planet after you were rescued, but they could find no trace of Michael there either dead or alive, so we have to accept that he managed to get away. The governing council were incredibly concerned about what happened, they have asked after your condition repetitively, but according to them they were totally unaware of what was going on under their noses. We do know that between the two of you, Ronon and yourself managed to 'remove' the bad apples from the security division, and the government are casting no dispersions about what happened. They are now aware that those few well placed individuals could actually have been responsible for the disappearance of more than a hundred people over the last few months, and they are very keen to ensure that everyone responsible is brought to justice, so they have offered to help us in our search for Michael."

Sheppard closes his eyes as he absorbed the news and a frown played across his forehead. Elizabeth looked across at Rodney worriedly,

"John are you okay, should I get Dr Keller?"

"M'okay," he opened his eyes once more and studied Elizabeths face, "N-no Michael then…."

"Sorry, No Michael. It looks likely that he escaped before we even had you back in the city, he must have had a transport waiting… John, what did he want with you, we…we haven't been able to find out..?" Elizabeth was aware that Sheppard was getting very close to the limits of his endurance, but she really needed to know what had happened.

Sheppard took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling tiles above him, "He wanted to use h-his 'bug juice' on me.." the effort was starting to show on Sheppard's face and Elizabeth moved to stop him from continuing, but he raised a hand at her, "S'okay, j-just give me a second…." She sat back down and waited until he was able to continue. He lay still on the bed for a few seconds and then opened his eyes once more, this time looking at Elizabeth as he spoke, "He w-wanted to create a s-soldier who would do h-his bidding, but also b-be able to…" he drew in a short breath and coughed, "..to use the ancient equipment …and h-he wanted to use m-my body to achieve it…." Sheppard had had enough and he grasped weakly at the mask that sat around his throat, but Elizabeth was there before him and her hands brought the mask up to rest over his mouth and nose again. Sheppard was exhausted, but relieved. He had desperately needed to tell them of Michaels plan and now as he drew in the oxygen that his body was craving, he felt more at peace - the burden shared. He had suffered dreadful nightmares whilst under the influence of the sedatives; his dreams filled with the images of himself as a bug soldier, of being unable to pull away from Michael's control, of attacking his friends, of killing….

"John…." Elizabeth's concern cut through his thoughts and he forced his heavy lids open, "Do you need anything…." He shook his head.

"Good god Sheppard, do you mean to say that Michael wanted you to 'experiment' on!...We thought it was just his bitter revengeful brain needing a resolution, but that's just," Rodney couldn't find the words to describe how he felt, "that's just …appalling!"

"John, you need to rest now. If you like we can talk later…?" Elizabeth was concerned. Sheppard had turned his head away from them and now faced the empty bed to his side, his eyes closed, "Maybe when you're feeling better I can get Kate to come talk to you, it may help…"

Sheppard shook his head and once more moved his hand up to remove the mask from his face, "At the m-moment L'zbeth, t-the only thing that will h-help me is f-for Ronon's blaster to catch that d-damned Wraith between the eyes…"

"I'm pretty sure that Ronon agrees with you on that count. Lets just say that he's a tad annoyed with Michael at the moment should we." Rodney could see that Sheppard was done in, but he also knew that his friend needed reassurance at the moment; what he had been through shouldn't happen to anyone, and as tough as Sheppard was, he'd suffered more than most people should have to. "Ronon won't rest until Michael's dead you know, he's sworn to kill him for what he did to you,"

"Rodney, I'm sure John doesn't need to know that now, he's….."

"H-he's right here L'zbeth and…." Sheppard turned to look at their faces, once more free of the mask, "…and that's the b-best news I could h-hear…"

"And what news would that be Colonel?" Keller entered the room again as Sheppard finished speaking and she immediately noticed the sheen of sweat that coated his face and the strain that showed around his eyes, "I see you decided to ignore my advice Colonel. I believe we may have to restrict visiting hours if you can't listen to me," the twinkle in her eye as she spoke wasn't lost on the group and a smile twitched at her lips as she approached the Colonel's bed, "lets check you over, get that mask back on and then I believe you need to rest – alone." She leant over and checked the monitors that bleeped noisily beside the bed and than crouched down to check the chest drain.

"I believe that was our cue to leave Rodney."

"What, oh yes, of course…well, we'll come back later when you're feeling a bit stronger then."

Sheppard turned towards Rodney, "S'okay, I'm g-good McKay." As he drew in a deep breath, his face screwed up as his chest pulled and he winced, then he looked down at Keller beside him and noticed the chest tube for the first time.

He swallowed hard at the sight of the tube disappearing into his side, "On second thoughts…. m-maybe n-not so good" He groaned at the sight of the drain disappearing under the bed, but as he slide down into the soft material of the pillow and closed his eyes, there was only one thought running through his mind. He was home. He was safe. And it felt really, really good.

The End

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time and effort to review my story, your comments are always encouraging and I hope sincerely hope that you have enjoyed this tale.


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